
lass _iLJAi>L 



liooK 



tyzw tux Jflea 

The Dhamma of Gotama 
the Buddha 



AND THE 



Gospel of Jesus the Christ 

A Critical Inquiry into the Alleged Relations of 
Buddhism with Primitive Christianity 

DISSERTATION FOR THE DOCTORATE IN THEOLOGY AT 
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA 

By the 

Rev. Charles Francis Aiken, S.T.L. 

w 

Of* the Archdiocese of Boston 



BOSTON 

MARLIER AND COMPANY, Limited 

1900 



*"# 



UNIVERSITAS CATHOLICA AMERICA, Washingtonii 

S. FACULTAS THEOLOGICA, 1900-1901 

No. 4 



NIHIL OBSTAT 

Carolus P. Grannan, S.T.D., Censor Deputatus 

IMPRIMATUR 

►£ Joannes Josephus, Archiepiscopus Bostoniensis 



Copyright, 1900 
By Charles Francis Aiken 



TO 



Preface 

THE work in hand is partly the outcome of a 
series of lectures on Buddhism delivered by 
the author in the Catholic University of America. 
It has been written to meet a want keenly felt in 
the field of Christian Apologetics. The specious at- 
tempts to lay the Gospels under obligation to Bud- 
dhist teaching have shaken the faith of not a few 
Christians. The need of a thorough refutation is im- 
perative. The few works in English vindicating the 
independent origin of Christianity against Buddhist 
usurpation, — all of them by Protestant writers, — 
excellent as they are, dwell too largely on the com- 
parative superiority of Christian teaching, and do 
not enter in sufficient detail into a critical scrutiny of 
the alleged proofs of Buddhist influence on Chris- 
tianity. It is to the latter point that the author of 
this little volume has given his chief care, contenting 
himself with a brief exposition of the inferiority of 
Buddhism to the religion of Christ. The detailed 
rejection of spurious evidence has necessitated a 



viii Preface 

more frequent reference to the writers refuted than 
would otherwise have been made ; but in the con- 
troversial parts he has sought to be courteous and 
fair. The exposition of Brahmanism and Buddhism, 
so necessary for the proper understanding of the 
main thesis, will be found to have a value independ- 
ently of the part that follows. While striving at a 
cost of much labor to attain to thoroughness and 
accuracy, the author has aimed to produce a work 
that may be read with interest and profit by those 
who are strangers to the subject of which it treats. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PART I.— THE ANTECEDENTS OF 
BUDDHISM — BRAHMANISM 

CHAPTER I 

Page 
Vedic and Brahman Rites . 3 

The Aryan invaders of India — Their gods chiefly nature- 
deities — Monotheistic tendencies — The sacrifices — 
Worship of the pitris — Rude superstitions — Transition 
to Brahmanism — Elaborate liturgy — Sacredness of the 
sacrifice — The Agni-hotra — The sacred Vedas — Sacred 
formulae — Purificatory rites — Retribution of good and 
evil deeds, transmigration, karma — Brahman religion 
more than an empty formalism. 

CHAPTER II 
Social and Religious Institutions 16 

The caste-system — Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras 

— Brahmans first in dignity — Unequal distribution of 
privileges — Rigid caste-rules — Sudras excluded from 
the Vedic rites — Studentship of the three upper castes — 
Ceremony of initiation — Ascetic life of the student — 
Marriage — Rigid caste-rule for the choice of the first 
wife — Polygamy allowed — Low estimate of woman — 
Duties of the wife — The religious duties of the house- 
holder — Sraddha feasts in honor of the dead — Ascetics 

— Their rule of life — Their incredible mortifications — 
The practice of Yoga — Vows of the ascetic. 



Contents 



CHAPTER III 

Page 

Rules of Conduct 32 

Multiplicity of Brahman restrictions — Arbitrary and ab- 
surd rules — Food-restrictions, especially as to flesh-meat 
and spirituous liquors — Penalty for drinking sura — Con- 
tempt for manual labor — Occupations held to be degrad- 
ing and impure — Precautions observed in drinking and 
walking out of regard for insect life — High standard of 
ethics — Insistence on forgiveness of injuries — Moral 
significance of thoughts clearly recognized — Choice ex- 
amples of Brahman wisdom. 



CHAPTER IV 



Pantheistic Speculations 



The development towards monotheism: Prajapati-Brahman 

— The rise of pantheistic speculations — The Upanishads 

— Brahman-Atman-Purusha identified with all things — 
The incomprehensibility of Brahman — Maya — Rebirth 
and misery due to maya — Brahman pessimism — Recog- 
nition of man's identity with Brahman the only means of 
salvation — Absorption into Brahman the true end of 
man — Pantheism subversive of traditional Brahmanism, 
though nominally in harmony with it. 



45 



PART II. — BUDDHISM 

CHAPTER I 
The Founder, Buddha 63 

Brahman pantheism popular with the caste of warriors — 
It gives rise to rival sects, one of which is Buddhism — 
Of Buddha but little known for certain — His father 



Contents xi 

Pagb 
not a king but a petty raja — His birthplace — His 

various names — His education and marriage — His 
abandonment of home for the ascetic life — His long 
period of missionary activity — The Buddha-Legend — 
Miraculous conception and birth — Asita — Life in the 
palace of pleasure — The flight from home — Mortifica- 
tions — ■ The Bodhi-tree — Mara's temptations — Supreme 
enlightenment — First preaching at Benares — Conver- 
sions — Devadatta — The fatal meal with Chunda — The 
painful journey to Kusinara — Under the Sala-trees — 
Subhadda — Buddha's last words — Obsequies — Divi- 
sion of relics — Estimate of Buddha's character. 



CHAPTER II 
The Law, Dhamma 87 

Deliverance from suffering the aim of Buddhism — The 
Four Great Truths — (1) The truth of suffering — 
Buddhist pessimism — (2) The cause of suffering: desire 
and ignorance — Karma and rebirth — (3) The extinc- 
tion of suffering through the extinction of desire — Nir- 
vana, of the living, of the dead — The Buddhist view of 
the soul — The joyful element in Buddhism — Nirvana 
supplemented by the Brahman paradise, swarga — The 
latter the more popular conception — (4) The eightfold 
path to Nirvana — Comparison of the Buddhist with the 
Brahman standard of ethics — The five great duties — 
Attitude of Buddhism towards suicide — Gentleness and 
forgiveness of injuries — Examples of Buddhist wisdom. 

CHAPTER III 
The Buddhist Order, Sangha 108 

Celibacy exacted of Buddha's followers — Severe attitude 
towards marriage — Poverty and asceticism also requi- 
site — Excessive austerities avoided — Alms the means of 
subsistence : hence the name Bhikkhus — Neither manual 



xii Contents 

Page 

labor nor works of charity in harmony with Buddhist 
discipline — Distinctions of birth ignored — Buddha not 
asocial reformer — The Novitiate — Rite of initiation — 
Rule of life — Clothing and food — Avoidance of luxuries 
and worldly amusements — Cleanliness exacted — Precau- 
tions to be observed in traversing the village and in the 
presence of women — The rite of confession, the Patimok- 
kha — The retreat during the rainy season, Vassa — Med- 
itation — Grades of perfection — Bhikkhunis — The lay 
element in Buddhism. 



CHAPTER IV 

The History of Buddhism 129 

Religious Developments — The existence of the Brah- 
man gods recognized in primitive Buddhism, but man's 
dependence on them denied — Hence no rites of worship 

— Devotion to the gods tolerated in the Buddhist layman 

— Rise of religious rites after Buddha's death — Vener- 
ation of his relics, stupas, and statues : pilgrimages, 
processions, and festivals — Worship of the Buddha to 
come, Metteyya — Divinization of Gotama Buddha as 
the Adi-Buddha — The Bodhisattvas — Mahayana and 
Hinayana — TheGEOWTH of Buddhism — The dubious 
councils of Rajagriha and Vaisali — Asoka — His rock- 
inscriptions — His zeal for Buddhism — Unreliable tradi- 
tions, especially concerning Mahinda and the council of 
Patna — The introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon — 
The evangelization of Kashmir, Gandhara, and Bactria 

— King Menander — King Kanishka — The council of 
Kashmir — The introduction of Buddhism into China — 
Chinese pilgrims: Fa Hien and Hiouen Thsang — The 
character of Chinese Buddhism — Mito and Fousa Kwan- 
yin — The introduction of Buddhism into Tibet — The 
character of Lamaism — Resemblances to certain feat- 
ures of Catholicism — The spread of Buddhism over 
Southern Asia — The decline of Buddhism in India — The 
number of Buddhists greatly exaggerated. 



Contents xiii 



CHAPTER V 

Pack 
The Buddhist Sacred Books 153 

The twofold Buddhist canon, the Northern (Sanskrit) and 
the Southern (Pali) — The character of the Southern 
canon — The Vinaya-pitaka, Sictta-pitaka, and Abhi- 
dhamma-pitaka, constituting the Ti-pitaka — Extra-canon- 
ical works: the Dipavansa, Mahavansa, Commentaries of 
Bitddhaghosa, Milinda Panha — Works peculiar to the 
Northern canon: the Buddha Charita, Lalita Vistara, 
Abhinishkramana Sutra, Saddharma-ptuidarika — Trans- 
lations — Age of the Ti-pitaka greatly exaggerated — The / 
view that it was fixed for good in the time of Asoka un- 
warranted — The Legendary B ographies of Buddha 

— Critical examination of the age of the Budd/ia Charita 

— Critical examination of the age of the Lalita Vistara — 
Date of the chief Chinese biography — Other Chinese 
versions — Tibetan versions — Dates of the chief biog- 
raphies of the Southern school : the Xidana Katha and 
the Commentary on the Buddhavansa — More recent 
forms of the Buddha-legend. 



PART III. —THE ALLEGED RELATIONS 
OF BUDDHISM WITH CHRISTIANITY 
EXAMINED 

CHAPTER I 

Survey of the Chief Works Written to Show 
the Presence of Buddhist Thought in the 
Gospels 173 

The theory that primitive Christianity was influenced by 
Buddhism not held by the majority of scholars — The 
three chief advocates of the theory — (1) Ernst von Bun- 



Contents 

Page 
sen — Outline of his argument — Critical view of his 
defects — (2) Prof. Rudolf Seydel — Outline of his argu- 
ment — Critical view of his defects — (3) Arthur Lillie — 
The untrustworthy character of his works — Outline of 
his argument — Critical view of his defects — Jesus not 
an Essene — Neither Essenes nor Therapeuts Buddhists 
— Futility of the attempt to make John and Paul out to 
be Gnostics. 

CHAPTER II 
Exaggerated Resemblances 198 

Spurious evidence used to impugn the originality of the 
Gospels classified under three heads : exaggerations, 
anachron isms, fictions — Exaggerations — The pre-exist- 
ence of Jesus in heaven contrasted with that ascribed to 
Buddha — Divergent circumstances of birth — Simeon 
verms Asita — The fast of Jesus compared with that of 
Buddha — Unfair attempts to exaggerate the resem- 
blances between the temptation of Jesus and that of 
Buddha — The transfiguration of Jesus without a close 
counterpart in the Buddha-legend. 



CHAPTER III 
Anachronisms 211 

Resemblances drawn from Buddhist sources plainly pre- 
christian, alone legitimate in the present comparison — 
Kanishka's conquest of Northern India in 78 A. D. the 
probable cause of separation of the Buddhists of the 
North from those of the South : hence Buddhist parallels 
not known to both Northern and Southern schools are of 
doubtful prechristian origin — Further means of control 
afforded by the different early versions of the Buddha- 
legend — Anachronisms — The genealogy of Buddha 

— The presentation of the infant Buddha in the temple 

— The corresponding Gospel story not out of harmony 
/ith Jewish custom — The school-scene — The gift of 



Contents xv 

Page 
tongues — The augmenting of food at the marriage-feast 

— Lamentation of women over Buddha's corpse — The 
Chinese variant — Buddha's descent into hell — The Bud- 
dhist parable of the lost son — Parallels to John, viii. 57, 
and to Matthew, v. 28 — Sadhu — Lamaistic resemblances 
to certain features of Catholicism — The Kwanyin liturgy 

— The swastika. 

CHAPTER IV 
Fictions _ 234 

Vain attempts to find a Buddhist parallel to the Holy Ghost 

— Maya not a virgin — Spurious parallels to the angelic 
announcements to Mary and to Joseph — The star in the 
East — Buddha not born on Christmas-day — Pretended 
counterparts to the offerings of the Magi — Bimbisara not 
the prototype of Herod — Habba not synonymous with 
Tathagata — Lack of resemblance between the story of 
the lost child Jesus and the Jambu-tree incident — Pre- 
tended baptism of Buddha — Untenableness of the state- 
ment that Buddha and Christ began to preach at the 
same age — The Bodhi-tree incident not the source of 
the story of Nathaniel and the fig-tree — The Gospel inci- 
dent of the man born blind independent of the Buddhist 
notion of karma — Yasa not the prototype of Nicode- 
mus — Lack of resemblance between Buddha's entry into 
Rajagriha and Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem — 
The Last Supper of Jesus wholly unlike the final meal of 
Buddha— Unwarranted ascription to Buddha of words 
spoken by Christ — Spurious Buddhist parallels to the 
abandonment of Jesus by His disciples, to the thief on 
the cross, to the parting of Christ's garments, to the resur- 
rection, to Matthew, v. 29, and xiii. 45. 

CHAPTER V 
Resemblances not Implying Dependence .... 258 

Abuse of the principle that resemblance means depend- 
ence — Resemblances often of independent origin — 



xvi Contents 

Page 
Examples from comparative ethnology and religion — 

Explained by similarity of conditions and by the uniform- 
ity of the laws of thought — Further instances — Enumer- 
ation of the Buddhist parallels wrongly taken to indicate 
the influence of Buddhism on Christianity. 



CHAPTER VI 

Arguments for the Independent Origin of the 

Gospels 269 

The apostolic origin of the Gospels of Matthew and of Luke 
incompatible with the adoption of mythical elements, and 
especially of features of the Buddha-legend — The alleged 
presence of Buddhist lore in Palestine and Greece an un- 
warranted assumption — The second Girnar Edict not an 
indication of Buddhist activity in the western possessions 
of Antiochus — The meaning of Yavana (Yona), and of 
Yavana(Yona)-loka — The thirteenth edict not conclusive 
evidence of the existence of Buddhism in the Greek- 
speaking world — The latter disproved by the silence of 
Greek literature and the total absence of Buddhist re- 
mains — Inconsistent also with the silence of the Bud- 
dhist Chronicles — Alasadda, capital of the Yona country, 
not Alexandria of Egypt — Zarmanochegas not a 
Buddhist. 

CHAPTER VII 

The Possible Influence of Christianity on Bud- 
dhism 288 



Parthian Jews converted by Peter — Reliability of the tra- 
dition that the apostle Thomas preached to the people 
of Parthia, Bactria, and Northwest India — Gondophares 
— The early mission of Pantaenus in India — The testi- 
mony of Cosmas — The ancient episcopal sees of Merv, 
Herat, and Sistan — Christian influence in Panjab in the 
fifth century shown by the Jamalgiri sculptures — The 
spread of Nestorianism over the East in the fifth and 



Contents xvii 

Page 
following centuries — The Nestorian monument of Si- 

ngan-fu — Likelihood that some of the incidents related 
of Christ have been incorporated into the Buddha- 
legend — Is the Asita-story one of these ? 

CHAPTER VIII 
Buddhism Viewed in the Light of Christianity . 304 

The miracles of Christ above comparison with those 
ascribed to Buddha: the latter unvouched by contempo- 
rary witnesses and tainted by absurdities — Examples — 
Buddhism a religion not of enlightenment, but of super- 
stition and error — Karma and its implied transmigration 
a false assumption — The failure of Buddhism to recog- 
nize man's dependence on the supreme God — Bud- 
dhism lacking in the powerful Christian motives to 
right conduct — Buddhist morality utilitarian — Nirvana 
not an appeal to unselfishness — Buddhist pessimism a 
crime against nature — Its injustice to the individual, to 
the family, to society — Buddhist propagandism far infe- 
rior to the Christian — Alliance of Buddhism with local 
superstitions — Buddhist benevolence greatly surpassed 
by Christian works of charity — The impotence of Bud- 
dhism to elevate the people of Asia — Sad state of 
morals in Buddhist lands — Slavery and polygamy un- 
touched by Buddhism — The degenerate condition of 
the Buddhist order — The transcendent excellence of 
Christianity. 

Bibliography 325 

Index 345 



PART I 

The Antecedents of Buddhism — Brahmanism 



The Dhamma of Gotama the Buddha 

and 

The Gospel of Jesus the Christ 



PART I 

The Antecedents of Buddhism — Brahmanism 



CHAPTER I 

VEDIC AND BRAHMAN RITES 

The Aryan invaders of India — Their gods chiefly nature-deities — 
Monotheistic tendencies — The sacrifices — Worship of the 
pitris — Rude superstitions — Transition to Brahmanism — Elab- 
orate liturgy — Sacredness of the sacrifice — The Agni-hotra — 
The sacred Vedas — Sacred formulas — Purificatory rites — Retri- 
bution of good and evil deeds, transmigration, karma — Brahman 
religion more than an empty formalism. 

IN the history of human thought and action we find 
that great movements do not spring indepen- 
dently into being. Whether philosophical, political, 
economic, or religious, they are largely the outcome 
of what has gone before. To this rule Buddhism 
forms no exception. It bears an intimate relationship 
with the religion from which it sprang. To appreciate 
it rightly, one must first have some acquaintance with 
Brahmanism. 



4 Antecedents of Buddhism 

The beginnings of Brahmanism carry us back 
through the vast interval of more than three thou- 
sand years to the time when the small bands of 
intrepid Aryan invaders pushed their way through 
the mountain passes of Northern India, and, bearing 
down the opposition of the native tribes, took pos- 
session of the fertile valleys of the Indus and its four 
tributaries. There they made their home, an ener- 
getic, industrious, and progressive people, victorious 
in the frequent wars waged with the hostile natives, 
and none the less successful in the tillage of the 
soil and in the raising of cattle. It was a period of 
prosperous growth. It was likewise a period of 
earnest religious thought, to which the gifted bards 
gave expression in hymns that, like the psalms, 
became the favorite forms of prayer for succeed- 
ing generations. 

Many were the gods that claimed their worship, 
the personal representatives of the striking phe- 
nomena of nature : Varuna, the all-embracing heaven, 
maker and lord of all things, and upholder of the 
moral law ; the sun-god, variously known as Surya, 
the enemy of darkness and bringer of blessings, as 
Pushan, the nourisher, as Mitra, the omniscient 
friend of the good, and avenger of lying and deceit, 
as Savitar, the enlivener, arousing men to daily activ- 
ity, as Vishnu, said to have measured the earth in 
three strides and to have given the rich pastures to 
mortals; the god of the air, Indra, also like Mars 



Vedic and Brahman Rites 5 

the mighty god of war, who set free from the cloud- 
serpent Ahi (Vritra) the quickening rain, and who 
gave a happy issue to battles ; Rudra, later known as 
Siva, the destroying one, and his sons the Maruts 
gods of the destructive thunderstorm, dreadful to evil- 
doers, but beneficent to the good ; Agni, the fire- 
god, the friend and benefactor of men, dwelling on 
their hearths, and bearing to the gods their sacrificial 
prayers and offerings ; Soma, the god of that myste- 
rious plant whose inebriating juice was so dear to gods 
and men, warding off disease, imparting strength, and 
securing immortality. 

These and many others of less importance were the 
devas, the shining ones, to whom they offered praise, 
sending up petitions chiefly for the good things of 
life, — children and cattle and health and length of 
days, — but not unmindful, too, of the need of crav- 
ing their forgiveness for sins committed. Though 
thus directed to many gods, their worship was char- 
acterized by strong monotheistic tendencies. Each 
god to whom the worshipper addressed himself was 
for the time being praised as the supreme lord of all 
things, having the attributes of omnipotence, creative 
power, unlimited knowledge, and allwise providence. 

There were no temples at this early period. The 
sacrifices were performed under the open sky. The 
altar was very simple, consisting of a small mound of 
turf, the surrounding ground being carefully cleared of 
grass and shrubs to guard against a possible spreading 



6 Antecedents of Buddhism 

of the fire to the surrounding fields or woods. The 
sacrifices were chiefly private, being offered by the 
head of the family, the members of which alone were 
supposed to profit thereby. The more complicated 
sacrifices, however, were performed by priests in union 
with the householder. Such were the soma- and the 
horse-sacrifices, both of which were held to be pre-emi- 
nently solemn and efficacious. 

Devotion to the pitris (fathers), the spirits of de- 
parted ancestors, was also part of their religion. They 
firmly believed in the persistence of the individual 
after death. When a good man died, his body mingled 
with the earth, but his soul mounted to the realms of 
bliss above to live in unalloyed contentment under 
Yama, the first man, now lord of the dead. 

But the happiness of these pitris was not altogether 
independent of the actions of the living. It could be 
greatly increased by offerings of soma, rice, and water. 
Hence the surviving children felt it a sacred duty to 
make sacrificial offerings at stated times to their de- 
parted pitris. It was the ambition of every man to 
have at least one son to survive him and contribute to 
his future happiness by abundant offerings. On the 
other hand, the living profited by this generosity to 
the dead; for the grateful pitris secured them in 
return health and wealth and posterity. 

Nor was their religion free from the lower forms of 
nature-worship, and the superstitions that entered 
into the belief of other Aryan peoples. The cow 



Vedic and Brahman Rites 7 

was held in religious reverence; worship was not 
withheld from serpents and trees. Magic and divin- 
ation were widely practised. Formulae abounded for 
healing the diseased, for driving off demons, for 
averting evil omens, for obtaining the object of one's 
desire. Witchcraft was dreaded, and recourse to 
ordeals was common for the detection of guilt. 

Such was the religiods system which the Aryans 
brought with them into India. It seems to have 
maintained much of its primitive simplicity during 
the period of expansive conquest, whereby the in- 
vaders made themselves masters of all Northern 
India from the valley of the Indus to that of the 
Ganges. In the long period of peace and plenty 
that followed, it developed little by little into the 
highly complicated, sacramental system known as 
Brahmanism. 

This transformation was chiefly due to the influ- 
ence of the priests or Brahmans. Owing to their 
excessive fondness for symbolic words and forms, the 
prayers and hymns became greatly multiplied, the 
details of ritual more and more intricate. Each kind 
of sacrifice came to have a liturgy proper to itself. 
Some of them were so elaborate as to require the 
service of sixteen priests. In the performance of the 
liturgy, the greatest care had to be observed ; for it 
was believed the omission of a word or the mispro- 
nouncing of a syllable, or the failure to carry out 
any ceremonial detail would render the sacrifice void 



8 Antecedents of Buddhism 

and even dangerous. It partook of the nature of a 
sacramental rite, the due performance of which was 
sure to produce the desired effect. The sacrifice 
became the all-important centre around which the 
visible and invisible world revolved. On it the very- 
gods of heaven depended. Through it all the legit- 
imate wishes of the human heart could find their 
realization. It is true, the Brahmans did not fail to 
insist on generosity to the sacrificing priest as an in- 
dispensable condition of the efficacy of the sacrifice. 
Still it was mot a mere perfunctory ceremony. It 
was of so sacred a character that, if performed by an 
unworthy priest, it was accounted sacrilegious and of 
ho avail. 1 Nor could the individual in whose behalf 
a sacrifice was offered derive any benefit from it 
unless he was in the proper disposition. He had to 
prepare for it by a day of abstinence from food and 
conjugal intercourse, and by a purificatory bath. At 
the sacrifice offered at the beginning of the rainy 
season, the wife of the sacrificer had to confess to 
the officiating priest any sin of conjugal infidelity of 
which she might be guilty. 2 

1 " The Bahishpavamana chant truly is a ship bound heavenwards : 
the priests are its spars and oars, the means of reaching the heavenly 
world. If there be a blameworthy one, even that one [priest] would 
make it sink : he makes it sink, even as one who ascends a ship that 
is full would make it sink. And, indeed, every sacrifice is a ship 
bound heavenwards : hence one should seek to keep a blameworthy 
[priest] away from every sacrifice." Satapatha Brahmana, iv. 2, 5, 
10. — Sacred Books of the East, vol. XXVI. pp. 310-3 11. 

2 Sat. Brah. ii. 5, 2, 20. —S. B. E. XII. p. 396. 



Vedic and Brahman Rites 9 

One form of sacrifice, however, remained in the 
hands of the householder ; that was the simple offer- 
ing of milk, butter, grain, and wood to the hearth-fire 
every morning and evening. This offering, called the 
Agni-Jiotra, was a sacred duty, to which the greatest 
importance was attached. It was taught that the 
sun would not rise were it not for the morning offer- 
ing to the fire, and that the faithful performance of 
the morning and evening Agni-Jiotra secured a happy 
hereafter. 

In keeping with the complicated liturgy of sacri- 
ficial worship was the multiplicity of prayers and 
purificatory rites that entered into the daily life of the 
Brahman. Here the threefold Veda (Wisdom) held 
the first place. This was the devotional lore created 
by the piety of earlier generations, and transmitted, 
orally from old to young as a venerable and sacred 
deposit. It consisted of a collection of ancient riks 
or hymns in praise of the many gods, the so-called 
Rig-Veda, and of two sacrificial rituals, one known as 
the Sama- Veda, compiled from parts of the Rig- Veda 
as a song-service for the soma-sacrifice, and the 
other called the Yajur-Veda, a liturgy composed in 
part of ancient hymns, in part of other prayers, invo- 
cations, and benedictions, for use in the various 
elaborate forms of sacrifice. In course of time this 
threefold Veda came to be looked upon as having 
existed from eternity, and as having been communi- 
cated supernaturally to early man. Its preservation 



i o Antecedents of Buddhism 

was a sacred duty of the Brahmans. As writing was 
unknown, it had to be memorized and taught orally 
to others. Great merit was attached to the recitation 
of passages from the Veda, a privilege, however, from 
which all women were debarred, as well as men of low 
caste. 1 

Besides these, certain formulae consisting of short 
extracts from the Rig- Veda were much in vogue and 
were held to be of great efficacy. The most import- 
ant was the so-called Savitri, a prayer which the 
devout individual was careful to address every morning 
and evening to the sun as Savitar, the Vivifier. It 
ran as follows : " Let us meditate on that excellent 
glory of the divine Vivifier. May he enlighten our 
understandings." 2 

Associated with it were two sacred ejaculations of 
wonderful power, that served as an indispensable in- 
troduction to every important act of devotion. One 
was the divine monosyllable OM (aum), whose three 

1 The incantations, exorcisms, and other magic formulae in- 
herited by the Aryan invaders of India from their remote ancestors, 
seem not to have been brought together into a fixed collection till 
after the formation of the threefold Veda. This collection, known 
as the Atharva-Veda (Priestly Veda), was not long in winning recog- 
nition as part of the sacred canon. The latter also came in time to 
include the so-called Brahmanas, — verbose and miscellaneous ex- 
planations of Vedic texts, rites, and customs, — and the so-called Sutras 
in which the contents of the Brahmanas were greatly abridged and 
given an orderly arrangement. To this class of sacred literature be- 
long the ancient law-books, of which the most famous is the metrical 
treatise known as the Laws of Ma mi 

2 M. Williams, Indian Wisdom, London, 1S76. p. 20. 



Vedic and Brahman Rites 1 1 

letters were a mystical compendium of the threefold 
Veda. The other consisted of the three magic words, 
B/ue/i, Bhuvah, and Svah (Earth, Air, and Heaven). 
Great was the efficacy of these two formulas when 
joined to the Savitri and accompanied by suppressions 
of breath. Devoutly recited every morning and even- 
ing by the learned Brahmans, they procured as 
much merit as the recitation of the Vedas. Their 
frequent repetition by way of penance had the effect 
of effacing from the soul the guilt of grievous sin. 1 

A scrupulous solicitude for ceremonial purity, sur- 
passing even that of the Jewish Pharisee, gave rise in 
Brahmanism to an endless succession of purificatory 
rites, baths, sprinkling with water, smearing with 
ashes or cow-dung, sippings of water, suppressions 
of breath, all of them sacramental in character and 
efficacious for the remission of sin. 2 

The retribution of good and evil deeds both here 
and hereafter, so clearly expressed in the Rig- Veda, 
formed likewise part of later Brahmanic belief; but 
the character of that retribution came to be differently 
conceived. The idea of heaven as the final reward of 
the just remained unchanged. But the abyss of dark- 
ness to which, according to the ancient Vedic hymns, 
the wicked were consigned, gave place to a great 
variety of hells, the positive torments of which were 

1 The Laws of Marat, ii. 75-83; xi. 249. — .5*. B. E. XXV. pp. 

44. 479- 

2 Manu, v. 57 ff. — Baudhayana, iv. 5. — 5. B. E. XIV. pp. 323 ff. 



i 2 Antecedents of Buddhism 

graded to suit different kinds of crime and different 
degrees of guilt. 1 These harrowing torments were 
most vividly and circumstantially depicted. They 
were not, however, eternal, nor were they the only 
forms of retribution of evil after death. Besides 
these, there was recognized a long graduated scale of 
less severe punishments suited to sinners whose guilti- 
ness was not great enough to deserve hell-torments, 
or whose debt of suffering had been sufficiently re- 
duced by infernal punishments to allow them to pass 
on to a more endurable state of expiation. This was 
the progressive series of rebirths from those of plants, 
through those of less and less ignoble animals, up to 
that of man. Thus from the lowest hell to the high- 
est rebirth as man, a formidable series of states of 
retribution was recognized, gradually diminishing in 
severity. According to the degree of guiltiness, King 
Yama, the first man, now lord and judge of the dead, 
determined the grade in this long series of punish- 
ments to which each sinner should be assigned. From 
that grade, the condemned culprit had to pass by a 
slow transition through the rest of the ascending series 
until his birth as man was once more attained. 2 

In the Vedic hymns, we find sickness and other 
kinds of misfortune regarded as punishments sent by 
the gods for the evil deeds of earlier years. Brahman- 

1 In Mdnu, iv. twenty-one different hells are distinguished. Cf. 
Institutes of Vishnu, xliii. ; S. E. B. VII. p. III. 

2 Mann, xii. 21-22, 52-58, 61-67, 73-81. 



Vedic and Brahman Rites i 3 

ism improved on the more ancient belief by teaching 
that certain kinds of sickness and deformity were due 
to the unexpiated misdeeds of a former existence, and 
hence ought to be supplemented by fitting penances. 

" A twice-born man having become liable to perform a 
penance, be it by [the decree of] fate or by [an act] com- 
mitted in a former life, must not before the penance has been 
performed, have intercourse with virtuous men. Some 
wicked men suffer a change of their [natural] appearance in 
consequence of crimes committed in this life, and some in 
consequence of those committed in a former [existence]. 
He who steals the gold [of a Brahman] has diseased nails ; a 
drinker of [the spirituous liquor called] sura, black teeth ; 
the slayer of a Brahman, consumption ; the violator of a 
Garu's bed, a diseased skin ; an informer, a foul smelling 
nose ; a calumniator, a stinking breath, ... a stealer of 
[cooked] food, dyspepsia. . . . Thus in consequence of a 
remnant of [the guilt of former] crimes, are born idiots, 
dumb, blind, deaf, and deformed men, who are all despised 
by the virtuous." 1 

In this way the idea of retribution was made to em- 
brace the most rigorous and far-reaching conse- 
quences, from which, save by timely penance, there 
was no escape. As every good action was certain of 
its future recompense, so every evil action was des- 
tined to bear its fruit of misery in the next life. This 
law that every good and evil action would inevitably 
result in future weal or woe, was known as karma 
(action). 

1 Manu, xi. 47-53. 



14 Antecedents of Buddhism 

To the devotee of Brahmanism, however, a means 
was held out of securing liberation from the sad con- 
sequences of evil deeds. This means was the prac- 
tice of penances and purificatory rites. Evil deserts 
could be offset and nullified by the merits of good 
works, — alms, confession, baths, suppressions of 
breath, recitation of the Savitri and other Vedic texts, 
fasts, and various kinds of self-torture, some of which 
were unto death. 1 

It is customary to see in these practices, which 
figure so largely in the sacred law-books, naught else 
than a perfunctory formalism. But this view scarcely 
does justice to Brahmanism. There is reason to be- 
lieve that the consciousness of guilt for sinful conduct 
was keen and vivid, and that in the performance of 
these rites, so liable to abuse, a penitential disposition 
of soul was largely cultivated. A remarkable pas- 
sage in the Laws of Manu sets forth the nature and 
efficacy of penance in a manner that leaves little to 
be desired. 

" By confession, by repentance, by austerity, and by re- 
citing [the Veda] a sinner is freed from guilt and, in case no 
other course is possible, by liberality. 

" In proportion as a man who has done wrong, himself 
confesses it, even so far he is freed from guilt as a snake from 
its slough. 

" In proportion as his heart loathes his evil deed, even 
so far is his body freed from that guilt. 

1 Manu, book xi. — Baudhayana, iii. 4 to iv. 8. — 6". B. E. XIV pp. 
294-333- 



Vedic and Brahman Rites i 5 

" He who has committed a sin and has repented, is freed 
from that sin, but he is purified only by [the resolution of] 
ceasing [to sin and thinking] ' I will do so no more.' 

" Having thus considered in his mind what results will 
arise from his deeds after death, let him always be good in 
thoughts, speech, and actions. 

" He who, having either unintentionally or intentionally 
committed a reprehensible deed, desires to be freed from 
[the guilt of] it, must not commit it a second time. 

" If his mind be uneasy with respect to any act, let him 
repeat the austerities [prescribed as a penance] for it until 
they fully satisfy [his conscience]." 1 

1 Manu, xi. 228-234. Cf. Baudhayana, ii. 5, 10. — S. B. E. XIV. 
p. 176. "Let him always be sorrowing in his heart when he thinks 
of his sins, [let him] practise austerities and be careful ; thus he will 
be freed from sin." 



CHAPTER II 
SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS 

The caste-system — Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras — 
Brahmans first in dignity — Unequal distiibution of privileges — 
Rigid caste-rules — Sudras excluded from the Vedic rites — Stu- 
dentship of the three upper castes — Ceremony of initiation — 
Ascetic life of the student — Marriage — Rigid caste-rule for the 
choice of the first wife — Polygamy allowed — Low estimate of 
woman — Duties of the wife — The religious duties of the house- 
holder — Sraddha feasts in honor of the dead — Ascetics — Their 
rule of life — Their incredible mortifications — The practice of 
Yoga — Vows of the ascetic. 

INTIMATELY bound up with the religious system 
of Brahmanism, so as to constitute one of its 
most important features, was the division of society 
into rigidly defined castes. 

From the earliest times the people had been sub- 
ject to class-distinctions. Besides the class of Ksha- 
triyas (also called Rajanyas) or warriors, which then 
stood first in importance, there were recognized three 
others, — that of Brahmans or priests, that of Vaisyas 
or farmers, and last as well as least of all, the servile 
class of Sudras, composed chiefly of the conquered 
natives. Between the three first classes no hard and 
fast lines of separation had been drawn. 



Social and Religious Institutions 17 

But with the development of Brahmanism there 
came a notable change. The four ancient divisions 
of society became stereotyped into fixed and exclu- 
sive castes, while at the same time the Brahmans 
took precedence of the warriors and assumed the first 
place of dignity and importance. As guardians and 
teachers of the sacred Veda, and as the officiating 
priests of the august sacrifices, they professed to be 
the very representatives of the gods, and hence the 
peers of the human race. No honors were too great 
for them. Their persons were inviolate. To lay 
hands on them was a sacrilege. Even the king had 
no right to do or say what was apt to stir them to 
anger. 

The share which the various castes had in privi- 
leges was very unequal. The Brahman, as the 
superior of all, enjoyed the largest amount of advan- 
tage, while the despised Sudra had scarcely any 
rights at all. On the other hand, the penalties for 
wrong-doing, with but few exceptions, lay heaviest 
on the Sudra, and diminished by very considerable 
degrees as they affected the three other castes in the 
ascending scale. 1 

The comparative worth in which the four castes 
were held, is revealed by the following text from the 
Laws of Mann, " One-fourth the penance for the 
murder of a Brahman is prescribed as expiation for 
intentionally killing a Kshatriya; one-eighth for killing 

1 Martu, viii. 267 ff. 
2 



1 8 Antecedents of Buddhism 

a Vaisya ; know that it is one-sixteenth for killing a 
virtuous Sudra." 1 

These caste-distinctions, declared by later Brahman 
teaching to have existed from the beginning by right 
divine, were maintained by the most stringent laws. 
Members of the upper castes might forfeit their rank 
through a violation of some caste-rule, and thus sink 
to the degraded condition of Sudras. But no one 
could rise above the caste in which he was born. 
Moreover, to be a Brahman, or Kshatriya, or Vaisya, 
it was necessary that both parents should belong to 
the caste in question. Children of a mother married 
to a husband of the caste above, inherited the caste- 
rights of the mother only. Marriages between 
women of a higher and men of a lower caste gave 
rise to mixed castes. 2 Most contemptible of all was 
the Chandala, the offspring of a Sudra and a woman 
of the Brahman caste. The very touch of such a 
person was avoided by the Brahman as defiling. 

Only the three upper castes had the right to know 
the Vedas, and to take part in the sacrifices ; for 
Brahmanism, far from being a religion open to all, 
was exclusively a privilege of birth. From its saving 
rites the Sudra was most rigorously excluded. 
Woe to the Sudra who sought to gain a knowledge 
of the sacred Veda. " Now if he listens intention- 
ally [to a recitation of] the Veda, his ears shall be 

1 Mann, xi. 127. 

2 The minor castes are all enumerated in the tenth book of Manu. 



Social and Religious Institutions 19 

filled with molten tin or lac. If he recites the [Vedic] 
texts, his tongue shall be cut out. If he remembers 
them, his body shall be split in twain." x 

It was solely in the acquisition of Vedic lore that 
the education of the youth consisted ; and as none 
but a Brahman had the right to teach the Veda, the 
training of the youthful mind was wholly in his 
hands. This was one of the sources of his great in- 
fluence ; for in the capacity of guru or teacher, he 
had the moulding of the minds and dispositions of all 
who constituted the strength and mainstay of the 
nation. Every youth of good family had to spend 
some of his tender years as a student in the service 
of a Brahman. 

The entrance into this period of studentship was 
marked by a most important ceremony, correspond- 
ing to the Christian rite of baptism. It was the in- 
vestiture with the sacred girdle and cord. The time 
for this ceremony was from the eighth to the six- 
teenth year after conception for a Brahman, from the 
eleventh to the twenty-second year for a Kshatriya, 
and from the twelfth to the twenty-fourth year for a 
Vaisya. If not brought to a Brahman for this initia- 
tion before the end of the allotted period, the youth 
forfeited his caste-rights and was excluded from all 
participation in the Brahman religion. 

As a preparation for the ceremony, the novice took 
a bath and had his head shaved. Then with the 

1 Gautama, xii. 4-6. ■ — S. B. E. II. p. 236. 



20 Antecedents of Buddhism 

tufts of hair which served as his family mark neatly 
arranged, he presented himself in festive attire to his 
chosen Brahman teacher, bearing a new mantle, a 
girdle, a cord, and a staff. Sacrifice having been 
offered, the Brahman, standing near the fire, invested 
the novice with the mantle, girdle, and sacrificial 
cord, accompanying each act with an appropriate 
prayer. The novice then signified his desire to serve 
under him as a student, whereupon the Brahman, 
sprinkling the joined hands of the novice with water, 
and then seizing them in his own, pronounced the 
formulae of initiation and adoption, and finally, 
touching his right shoulder, said, "A student art 
thou. Put on fuel. Take water. Do the service. 
Do not sleep in the daytime. Keep silence till the 
putting on of fuel. Be devoted to the teacher and 
study the Veda." 

He was then taught the Savitri prayer, and became 
dvi-ja, or twice-born, with the right to learn the 
Veda and to participate in the sacrifices. " Three 
castes, Brahman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya [are called] 
twice-born. Their first birth is from their mother; 
the second from the investiture of the sacred girdle. 
In that [second birth] the Savitri is the mother, but 
the teacher is said to be the father. They call the 
teacher father, because he gives instruction in the 
Veda." : 

Thus prepared by a solemn consecration, the 

1 Vasishlka, ii. 1-4. — 5. B. E. XIV. p. 9. 



Social and Religious Institutions 2 1 

young novice applied himself to the study of the 
sacred Veda, learning, not from the written page, 
but from the spoken word of the teacher. 1 Day after 
day, at the appointed time, he presented himself to 
his teacher, and sitting upright upon the ground, 
with legs crossed and hands respectfully clasped, he 
committed a portion of the Vedic text to memory. 
A year or two of study sufficed, as a rule, for mem- 
bers of the warrior or farmer caste, of whom only 
a partial knowledge of the Vedas was expected. But 
the young Brahman had to keep up his studentship 
till he knew the three Vedas by heart. The very 
brightest could not hope to reach this degree of 
proficiency in less than nine years. 

The student generally resided with his teacher, 
whom he was bound to serve with docility and rever- 
ence. Everything in his daily life was calculated to 
impress upon him the sacredness of the Vedas and 
the holiness requisite for their proper study. He 
began and ended the day with prayer, reciting the 
Savitri in honor of the rising and setting sun, and 
making offerings of wood to Agni (Surya) on the 
household fire. He had to rise before the sun, nor 
could he recline again in sleep till after sunset. He 
was allowed a morning and an evening meal, but of 
the simplest kind. Meat could not be eaten, nor 
honey, nor rich and dainty dishes. Between these 

1 The sacred books were not committed to writing till long after 
the art of writing became familiar to the people of India. 



22 Antecedents of Buddhism 

meals a strict fast had to be observed. He subsisted 
on alms, proceeding every morning and evening to 
the village to beg his food of worthy people who 
lived according to the Vedas. He was expected to 
observe the strictest chastity. Any violation of this 
virtue broke the vow of his studentship and had to 
be atoned for by severe penance. He was also 
bound to avoid music, dancing, gambling, falsehood, 
disrespect to superiors and to the aged, covetous- 
ness, anger, and injury to animals. 1 

The student's life was thus a life of stern moral 
and intellectual discipline. In it the three monastic 
vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience found their 
realization. Coming as it did at the critical period 
of youth, when the will needed to be strengthened 
against the demands of unruly instincts, and when 
the mind was most susceptible to influences from 
without, this discipline must have helped in no small 
measure to develop a sturdy moral character, as well 
as to foster a deeply religious spirit and to cultivate 
a quick and retentive mind. Theirs was indeed a 
religious education. 

A Brahmana text declares that a Brahman comes 
into the world burdened with three debts. To the 
gods, he owes the debt of sacrifice ; to the rishis, or 
ancient bards, the debt of reciting the Vedas ; to the 
pitris, or departed fathers, the debt of begetting sons. 2 

1 Manu, ii. 177-1S1 ; xi. 1 19-124. 

2 Taittiriya-Brahmana, vi. 3, 10, 5. — Cf. 5. B. E. XIV. p. 271-272. 



Social and Religious Institutions 23 

Marriage was thus one of the religious duties of a 
twice-born man. Freed from his vow of studentship, 
he soon entered into the state of the householder. 

Characteristic is the advice given in the Laws of 
Manu for the choice of a bride. 

" A twice-born man shall marry a wife of equal caste who 
is endowed with auspicious [bodily] marks. . . . Let him 
not marry a maiden with reddish hair . . . nor one who is 
sickly . . . nor one who is garrulous or has red eyes. . . . 
Let him wed a female free from bodily defects, who has an 
agreeable name, the graceful gait of an elephant, a moderate 
quantity of hair, small teeth, and soft limbs." l 

The rule that the bride should be of the same caste 
as the groom was strongly insisted upon. It was 
necessary for the maintenance of the castes. To be- 
come a householder through marriage with a Sudra 
woman was a crime and a lasting disgrace, the guilti- 
ness of which was the greater, the higher the rank of 
the offender. A Brahman who would thus debase 
himself was destined to sink into hell. 2 

It was only of the first and principal marriage that 
this rule held good. It did not apply to the secondary 
marriages, which were the privilege of the twice-born ; 
for as in all oriental peoples of antiquity, polygamy 
had the sanction of religion. A man could take an 
inferior wife only from a caste below his own ; nor was 
he ordinarily allowed more than one wife from the 

1 Manu, iii. 4, 8, 10. 2 Manu, iii. 17-19. 



24 Antecedents of Buddhism 

same caste. Hence the higher the "caste, the larger 
the privilege. A Brahman could have four wives, one 
from each caste, a warrior three, a farmer two ; while 
the Sudra was expected to content himself with one. 
Monogamy, however, seems to have been largely 
practised by the Brahmans, while the wealthy nobles 
maintained harems proportionate to their means. 

In Brahmanism, woman's freedom of action was 
subject to many restrictions that did scant justice to 
her deserts. The wife had the right to participate 
with her husband in the sacrifices, but all knowledge 
of the Veda was withheld from her. " The nuptial 
ceremony," runs a text of Mann} "is stated to be the 
Vedic sacrament for women [and to be] equal to the 
initiation ; serving the husband [equivalent to] the 
residence in the house of the teacher; and the house- 
hold duties [the same as] the daily worship of the 
sacred fire." 

The speculative estimate of womanly worth was 
decidedly low. To seduce men was thought to be the 
instinctive impulse of women. Laziness, excessive 
fondness for ornament, sensuality, dishonesty, 
malice, heartlessness, and instability were imputed to 
them as dispositions inherent in their very nature. 
The prudent man was warned not to remain alone 
and unguarded with females, even his nearest rela- 
tions. 2 It was laid down that a woman must never 
be independent, but always live in subjection, in child- 

1 Mann, ii. 67. 2 ii. 213-215; ix. 15. 



Social and Religious Institutions 25 

hood to her father, in youth to her husband, in her 
widowhood to her sons. 1 

To her husband, especially, she owed the greatest 
obedience and devotion, undertaking no vow or fast 
without his permission. A faulty, unruly wife could 
be beaten. Bound by an indissoluble tie to her hus- 
band, she had to bear with him in patience and fidel- 
ity, and worship him as a god, even if he were harsh 
and cruel. But if she herself proved unworthy, she 
could be repudiated by her husband and supplanted 
by another. This one-sided privilege of the husband 
was, however, limited by certain restrictions. 2 Nor 
did the obligation of the wife to the husband cease 
at his death. She was not to marry again even if 
childless, but was to remain chaste and single, faith- 
ful to the memory of her departed lord, if she ex- 
pected to be honored on earth and to be happy with 
him in heaven. 3 

But despite her many disabilities, the right of the 
wife to be treated as an honorable, if inferior, help- 
mate, was not overlooked. The sacred books did not 
fail to remind the householder of the sympathy, kind- 
ness, and affectionate fidelity that he owed to her whom 
he had received in intimate union from the very gods. 4 

1 Afanu, v. 147-148. 

2 v. 154-155; «• 77-82. 

3 v. 156-157. The cruel Hindu custom known as sutteeism, by 
which widows were instigated to seek death on the pyres of their 
husbands, seems to have formed no part of early Brahmanism. 

* iii. 55-62 ; ix. 45, 95, 101. 



2.6 Antecedents of Buddhism 

The householder, like the student, had to rise be- 
fore the sun, bathe, recite the Savitri, and pour out 
libations of water to his departed relatives. Similar 
devotions were expected of him every evening. In 
addition, the Brahman householder had to recite 
devoutly every day portions of the Veda and, if a 
guru, communicate them to his pupil. 

One of the first duties of the newly married house- 
holder was to set up the domestic fire. The mainte- 
nance and worship of the household fire secured the 
presence and blessing of the fire-god Agni, without 
which no family could prosper. It was kept always 
burning. Every morning and evening, offerings 
(Agni-hotra) were made to it of hot milk, butter, rice, 
barley, and sesamum. 1 

These daily offerings to the fire, together with the 
sacrifices of burnt offerings at every new and full 
moon, at the beginning of each of the three seasons, 
at the two harvests, and at the solstices, as well as the 
soma-sacrifice at the end of the year, constituted the 
sum of his obligations to the gods, as regards sacri- 
ficial worship. 

Scarcely less important than these offerings to the 
gods were those he had to make to his departed rela- 
tives. Once a month, at the time of the full moon, he 
had to provide the sraddha, or sacrificial feast in 
honor of the dead. To this feast, which was of a joy- 
ful nature, one or more pious Brahmans and a num- 

1 Asvalayana-Grihya-Sutra, i. 9. — 6". B. E. XXIX. p. 172. 



Social and Religious Institutions 27 

ber of near relatives were invited. Great care had to 
be exercised in the choice of guests, for it was taught 
that'unworthy persons would rob the sacrifice of its 
efficacy. Of the dead supposed to take part in this 
feast, the relatives up to the third generation were 
to derive most profit. 1 

The strong tendency to asceticism, which has as- 
serted itself in the chief religious systems of India, 
seems to have taken its rise very early in Brahman- 
ism. It found expression in the fasts preceding the 
great sacrifices, in the severe penances for transgres- 
sions, in the austere life exacted of the student, in the 
laws prescribing conjugal abstinence for the first three 
days after the nuptial rite and on certain specified 
days of every month, but, above all, in the rigorous 
life of solitude and privation to which not a few de- 
voted their declining years. These were the so-called 
hermits and ascetics. 

The majority of Brahmans remained householders 
to the end. But a goodly number, having paid their 
three debts to the gods, the pitris, and the rishis, felt 
called by the spirit of devotion to increase their store 
of merit by renouncing the comforts of home life and 
withdrawing to the forest to spend the rest of their 
days in seclusion, meditation, and severe discipline. 
The Laws of M ami recommend old age as the proper 
time for embracing the ascetic life. "When a house- 
holder sees his skin wrinkled and his hair white and 

1 Mann, iii. 122 ft. 



28 Antecedents of Buddhism 

the sons of his sons, then he may resort to the 
forest." 1 

This rule seems at first to have been rigidly ob- 
served ; but, in the course of time, exceptions came to 
be made in favor of young and even unmarried men, 
when the influence of pantheistic speculations led to 
a strong prepossession for the contemplative life and 
to a corresponding indifference towards sacrificial 
rites. 2 

In withdrawing to the solitude of the forest, he 
could take his wife with him if he so chose. There, 
as a hermit, he set up a rude hut, maintained the 
three sacred fires, if a Brahman, and continued to 
perform the sacrificial rites. The morning and even- 
ing purificatory bath had to be observed. A skin or 
tattered garment was his only clothing. Abstaining 
from honey and rich foods, he had to subsist on 
water, fruit, grain, and herbs, giving freely of his store 
to those who sought his hospitality. He was allowed 
to lay aside food enough to last him for a year. 3 

Besides these hermits, there were the so-called 
ascetics, who devoted themselves to a life of even 
greater austerity. Renouncing the society of their 
wives, and incorporating the sacred fires within their 
bodies by inhaling the smoke, they condemned them- 
selves to live without fire and with no shelter save 

1 Manu, vi. 2. 

2 Cf. Bandhayana, ii. ro, 17, 2-5. — 6". B. E. XIV. p. 273. 
8 Manu, vi. 3-18. — Baudh. ii. 6, 11. — S. B. E. XIV. 259. 



Social and Religious Institutions 29 

that of a spreading tree. They subsisted on roots 
and herbs, and on alms collected at the kitchen-door 
when meal-time was past and only cold victuals 
remained. Water was their only drink. Meat could 
not be eaten. 

It was the rule for ascetics to eat but once a day, 
and then scarcely enough to keep away the pangs of 
hunger. " Eight mouthfuls are the meal of an as- 
cetic," runs a sacred text, "sixteen that of a hermit, 
thirty-two that of a householder, an unlimited quantity 
for a student." 1 

The severity of life adopted by the ascetic was not 
so much a penitential discipline for past offences, as a 
means of acquiring religious merit and superhuman 
powers. The severer the mortification, the greater 
was deemed the holiness of the ascetic, the richer his 
future reward. It was commonly believed, too, that 
by extraordinary austerities one could obtain so 
great a mastery over the body as to become invisible 
at will, or to float in the air, or to move with light- 
ning-speed to distant places. And so the more am- 
bitious gave themselves up to a variety of self- 
tortures as fanatic as they were absurd. Listen, for 
example, to the methods recommended by the Laws 
of Mann for the practice of bodily mortification. 
"Let him either roll about on the ground or stanl 
during the day on tiptoe, or let him alternately stand 
and sit down. In summer let him expose himself to 

1 Vasishtha, vi. 20. — .9. B. E. XIV. p. 37. 



30 Antecedents of Buddhism 

the heat of five fires, during the rainy season live 
under the open sky, and in winter be dressed in wet 
clothes, thus gradually increasing the rigor of his 
austerities." l 

The most common means of rigorous self-discipline 
was fasting. Various were the forms devised, all in- 
credibly severe, and some of them grotesque. They 
would eat at every fourth meal-time, or at every 
eighth; or they would conform their fast to the rule 
of the lunar penance. Proceeding from an absolute 
fast on the day of the new moon, they would increase 
their meal daily by the addition of a single mouthful 
of food, till at full moon the maximum of fourteen 
mouthfuls was reached, and then during the days of 
the waning moon diminish the amount of food in a 
corresponding manner. 2 Others lived on water alone 
for wonderfully long periods of time. 

But mortifications were not the only occupation of 
the ascetics. The practice of yoga, or contemplation, 
was also a prominent feature of their daily life. As- 
suming a motionless posture, and fixing their gaze 
steadily on some object before them, they would think 
intensely on an abstract subject till they lapsed into a 
trance and fancied they were brought into intimate 
union with the supreme deity, Brahman. The fruit of 
these contemplations was the pantheistic conception 
of the deity, the soul, and salvation, which gave rise 
to new schools of thought, and to a new class of 

1 Mautt, vi. 22-23. 2 v '- ! 9> 20 - 



Social and Religious Institutions 3 1 

sacred literature, — the so-called UpanisJiads. The 
abler ascetics thus came to assume the role of 
teachers and to gather about them disciples. 

In becoming an ascetic, ten vows were taken. 
Five were known as the greater vows, and embraced 
(1) avoidance of injury to all living things, (2) truth- 
fulness, (3) respect for the property-rights of others, 
(4) absolute chastity, (5) liberality. The five minor 
vows were (1) to avoid anger, (2) to obey the guru, 
(3) to avoid rashness, (4) to be cleanly, (5) to observe 
purity in eating. 1 

1 Baudh. ii. 10, \%.—S. B. E. XIV. p. 279. 



CHAPTER III 

RULES OF CONDUCT 

Multiplicity of Brahman restrictions — Arbitrary and absurd rules 

— Food-restrictions, especially as to flesh-meat and spirituous 
liquors — Penalty for drinking sura — Contempt for manual labor 

— Occupations held to be degrading and impure — Precautions 
observed in drinking and walking out of regard for insect life — 
High standard of ethics — Insistence on forgiveness of injuries 

— Moral significance of thoughts clearly recognized — Choice 
examples of Brahman wisdom. 

THE influence which Brahmanism exercised on 
the conduct of those who acknowledged its 
claims was remarkably far-reaching and comprehen- 
sive. There was not a customary action, however 
private, of daily life that was not regulated by pre- 
scribed rules. Innumerable restrictions, partly of 
the nature of religious taboos, partly prompted by 
strange notions of expedience and propriety, ham- 
pered freedom of action at every turn. These pre- 
cepts and prohibitions were held in equal respect 
with the recognized ethical duties, from which they 
were but dimly distinguished. Nowhere, in fact, do 
we find a greater confusion of the laws of conduct 
based on the divinely established order with those 



Rules of Conduct 33 

resting on inherited superstitions and ceremonial and 
social observances. In the sacred law-books setting 
forth the rules of moral and religious conduct, there 
is a hopeless entanglement of what is truly noble 
with what is trivial, an incredible mixture of gold 
with dross. In the most unexpected manner, the 
Brahman expounder of right conduct gravely links 
together sound moral precepts with rules of action 
the most silly and ludicrous ; for all are of equal 
importance in his eyes. Here are a few examples 
from the Laws of Manu. 

" Keeping his hair, nails, and beard clipped, subduing his 
passions by austerities, wearing white garments and [keep- 
ing himself] pure, he [/. e„ the householder] shall always be 
engaged in studying the Veda and [such acts as are] con- 
ducive to his welfare. 

" Let him not step over a rope to which a calf is tied, let 
him not run when it rains, and let him not look at his own 
image in water. 

" Let him pass by [a mound of] earth, a cow, an idol, a 
Brahman, clarified butter, honey, a cross-way, and well- 
known trees turning his right hand towards them." x 

" Let him never play with dice nor himself take off his 
shoes, let him not eat lying in bed, nor what has been 
placed in his hand, nor on his seat. 

" Let him eat while his feet are [yet] wet [from the ablu- 
tion], but let him not go to bed with wet feet." 2 

" Let him who desires prosperity, indeed, never despise 
a Kshatriya, a snake, any learned Brahman, be they ever 
so feeble." 8 

1 Mauu, iv. 35, 38, 39. 2 iv. 74, 76. 3 iv. 135. 

3 



34 Antecedents oi Buddhism 

" Let him never offend the teacher who initiated him, nor 
him who explains the Veda, nor his father and mother, nor 
[any other] guru, nor cows, nor Brahmans, nor any men per- 
forming austerities. Let him avoid atheism, cavilling at the 
Vedas, contempt of the gods, hatred, want of modesty, pride, 
anger, and harshness." l 

" Let him never bathe in tanks belonging to other men ; 
if he bathes [in such a one], he is tainted by a portion of 
the guilt of him who made the tank. 

" He who uses without permission a carriage, a bed, a 
seat, a well, a garden, or a house belonging to another [man], 
takes upon himself one-fourth of [the owner's] guilt." 2 

To the Christian reader, this hopeless confusion 
brings a constant series of surprises, producing alter- 
nately feelings of admiration and amusement, sym- 
pathy and disgust. One marvels how religious 
minds that possessed so clear a vision of many 
moral truths could be so blinded as to give their 
unshaken approval to a multitude of absurd and 
puerile superstitions. 

In the matter of food, the religious restrictions 
were numerous and severe. Almost all kinds of 
fish were forbidden, as well as many kinds of land- 
animals, such as carnivorous and web-footed birds, 
village-fowls, village-pigs, camels, horses, and other 
one-hoofed beasts. Even the lawful kinds of fish, 
fowl, and meat could not be used as ordinary articles 
of diet. It was only on occasions of entertaining 
guests, and of sacrificing to the gods and pitris, that 

1 Manu, iv. 162, 163. 2 iv. 201, 202. 



Rules of Conduct 35 

they could be eaten without sin. The animals slain 
on such occasions were thought to be greatly bene- 
fited, inasmuch as their immolation was rewarded by 
a rebirth in a higher and more blessed existence. 

" Herbs, trees, cattle, birds, and [other] animals that have 
been destroyed for sacrifices, receive [being reborn] higher 
existences. 

" On offering the honey- mixture [to a guest], at a sacri- 
fice and at the rites in honor of the manes, but on these 
occasions only, may an animal be slain ; that Manu 
proclaimed. 

" A twice-born man who, knowing the true meaning of 
the Veda, slays an animal for these purposes, causes both 
himself and the animal to enter a most blessed state." 1 

But to slaughter an animal for ordinary purposes 
of consumption was accounted a grave injury, the 
guilt of which was shared by those who used any of 
its flesh as food. 

" Meat can never be obtained without injury to living 
creatures, and injury to sentient beings is detrimental to [the 
attainment of] heavenly bliss ; let him therefore shun [the 
use of] meat. 

" Having well considered the [disgusting] origin of flesh 
and the [cruelty of] fettering and slaying corporeal beings, 
let him entirely abstain from eating flesh. 

" He who permits [the slaughter of an animal], he who 
cuts it up, he who kills it, he who buys and sells [meat], 
he who cooks it, he who serves it up, and he who eats it, 
[must all be considered as] the slayers [of the animal]. 

1 Mauu, iv. 40-42. 



36 Antecedents of Buddhism 

" There is no greater sinner than that man who, though 
not worshipping the gods or the manes, seeks to increase 
[the bulk of] his own flesh by the flesh of other 
[beings]." 1 

Other articles of food were likewise put under the 
ban. It was wrong to use the milk of sheep, camels, 
mares, and even of cows within ten days of calving. 
So vigorous was the prohibition against mushrooms, 
onions, leeks, and garlic, that to use such food know- 
ingly was accounted a crime involving loss of caste. 

To the Brahman, all sorts of spirituous liquors were 
forbidden under pain of forfeiture of all caste-privi- 
leges. The very dignity of his position demanded 
that he should be a total abstainer. Members of the 
other castes were allowed the use of liquors distilled 
from molasses and from Madhuka flowers. But the 
so-called sura, a highly intoxicating drink distilled 
from ground rice, corn, and barley, was solemnly 
forbidden to all without distinction. To indulge in 
this form of beverage was held to be one of the 
greatest of crimes, the expiation of which called for 
penances appalling for their severity. 

" A twice-born man who has [intentionally] drunk through 
delusion of mind [the spirituous liquor called] Sura, shall 
drink that liquor boiling hot ; when his body has been 
completely scalded by that, he is freed from guilt ; 

" Or he may drink cows' urine, water, milk, clarified 
butter, or [liquid] cow-dung boiling hot till he dies ; 
1 Manu. iv, 48-52. 



Rules of Conduct 37 

" Or, in order to remove the guilt of drinking Sura, he may 
eat during a year once [a day] at night grains [of rice] or 
oilcake, wearing clothes made of cow-hair and his own hair 
in braids, and carrying [a wine cup as] a badge." 2 

No less subject to rigorous restrictions was the 
manner of gaining a livelihood. As in the civiliza- 
tions of Greece and Rome, so too in Brahmanism, 
the dignity of manual industry failed of recognition. 
It was held to be a defilement for a Brahman or a 
Kshatriya to support himself by the labor of his 
hands. If hard pressed by lack of means, he was 
permitted to practise through the agency of others 
the occupations lawful to the Vaisya, namely, agri- 
culture, cattle-raising, and a few kinds of trade. But the 
contempt in which these pursuits were held may be 
judged from the fact that shepherds, shopkeepers, 
and those who subsisted by agriculture were ex- 
cluded as unworthy guests from participation in the 
sraddha feasts in honor of the pitris. 2 

More contemptible still were the numerous occu- 
pations that necessitated contact with substances held 
to be defiling, or that tainted the purity of fire and 
water, or that involved the slaughter of animals and 
the felling of trees. All who engaged in such forms 
of business were treated as outcasts. A Brahman 
could not accept food from a carpenter, a tailor, a 
worker in leather or metals, nor even from a physi- 
cian; for they were all held to be impure. 

1 Manu, xi. 91-93. a iii. 154, 165, and 166. 



38 Antecedents of Buddhism 

" Let him never eat [food given] by intoxicated, angry, or 
sick [men]. . . . 

" Nor the food given by a thief, a musician, a carpenter, 
a usurer, ... a miser, one bound with fetters. . . . 

" Nor [the food given] by a physician, a hunter, a cruel 
man. . . . 

" Nor the food [given] by an informer, by one who hab- 
itually tells falsehoods, nor by one who sells [the rewards 
for] sacrifices, nor the food [given] by an actor, a tailor, or 
an ungrateful [man], 

" By a blacksmith, a Nishada, a stage-player, a gold- 
smith, a basket-maker, or a dealer in weapons, 

" By trainers of hunting dogs, publicans, a washerman, 
a dyer." 1 

The scrupulous regard for all forms of animal and 
vegetable life, developed by the doctrine of transmi- 
gration, gave rise to restrictive rules of conduct that 
bordered on the absurd. Insects, however repulsive 
and noxious, could not be killed. Water could not 
be drunk till it was first strained, lest minute forms of 
life should be swallowed and destroyed. We have 
just seen how carpentry, basket-making, working in 
leather, and other respectable occupations were held 
in disrepute, because they could not be carried on 
without a certain cost of plant and animal life. Some 
zealots went so far as to question the blamelessness 
of tilling the ground on account of the unavoidable 
injury done to worms and insects in ploughing. 2 

But it was of ascetics that the greatest precautions 

1 Manu, iv. 207-216. - x. S4. 



Rules of Conduct 39 

were exacted. In walking, they had to scan the 
ground carefully before them so as to avoid crush- 
ing any living creature. It was forbidden them to 
tread on a ploughed field. During the rainy season, 
when insects swarmed on the ground in greatest 
number, they were allowed to move about as little as 
possible. 1 

Through these superstitious restrictions and many 
others of minor importance, freedom of action was 
very narrowly circumscribed for the devotee of Brah- 
manism. This was especially true of the Brahman 
himself, who was obliged to eschew many things that 
were lawful for members of the other castes. It is 
not surprising that the more scrupulous felt life to be 
a burden, and became imbued with the spirit of 
pessimism. 

But if we abstract from this superstitious and arbi- 
trary limitation of human conduct, and take into con- 
sideration the Brahman teaching of right and wrong 
in the recognized sphere of ethics, we are confronted 
with a largeness and depth of moral discernment that 
justly excites our admiration. 

Truthfulness, honesty, self-control, obedience to 
parents and superiors, the moderate use of food and 
drink, chastity, and almsgiving were strongly incul- 
cated. Especial stress was laid on the duty of acting 
charitably towards students, ascetics, the sick, the 
aged, and the feeble. Though allowing, like other 

1 Mann, vi. 46 ff. 



40 Antecedents of Buddhism 

religions of antiquity, polygamy and repudiation, 
Brahmanism strongly forbade adultery and all forms 
of unchaste indulgence. It condemned, likewise, in 
severe terms suicide, abortion, perjury, slander, 
drunkenness, gambling, oppressive usury, hypocrisy, 
and slothfulness. Its Christian-like aim to soften the 
hard side of human nature is seen in its many lessons 
of mildness, forbearance, respect for the aged, kind- 
ness towards servants and slaves, and in its insisting, 
though to an excessive degree, on not causing death 
to any living creature. Wanton cruelty to animals, 
met from the Brahman the reprobation it deserves. 
Nothing is more striking than its insistence on the 
duty of forgiving injuries and returning good for 
evil. In the Laws of Mann, we read of the ascetic: 

" Let him patiently bear hard words, let him not insult 
anybody ; and let him not become anybody's enemy for the 
sake of this [perishable] body. 

" Against an angry man let him not in return show anger, 
let him bless when cursed, and let him not utter speech, de- 
void of truth, scattered at the seven gates." l 

Nor did this standard, so remarkable, of moral right 
and wrong, apply simply to external acts. It pene- 
trated to the secret chamber of the heart. It de- 
manded recognition of the very will. The threefold 
division of good and bad acts into thoughts, words, 
and deeds, finds frequent expression in Brahmanic 
teaching. 

1 A/aau, vi. 47, 48. 



Rules of Conduct 41 

" He, forsooth, whose speech and thoughts are pure and 
ever perfectly guarded, gains the whole reward which is con- 
ferred by the Vedanta." 1 

" Let him not even, though in pain [speak words], cutting 
[others] to the quick ; let him not injure others in thought or 
deed ; let him not utter speeches which make [others] afraid 
of him, since that will prevent him from gaining heaven." 2 

" Neither [the study of] the Vedas nor liberality, nor 
sacrifices, nor any self-imposed restraint, nor austerities, 
ever procure the attainment [of rewards] to a man whose 
heart is contaminated with sensuality/' 3 

"The wife who keeps chaste in thoughts, words, and 
body, and remains faithful to her husband, attains to a re- 
union with him in the next world and is called virtuous." 4 

The Laws of Manu abound in noble sentiments 
like these. The more striking ones have been culled 
out by Monier Williams and finely translated in his 
work entitled Brahmanism arid Hinduism. It is from 
this collection that the following choice sentences 
have been taken : — 

" From poison thou mayest take the food of life, 
The purest gold from lumps of impure earth, 
Example of good conduct from a foe, 
Sweet speech and gentleness from e'en a child, — 
Something from all ; from men of low degree 
Lessons of wisdom if thou humble be." 5 

" He who by firmness gains the mastery 
Over his words, his mind, and his whole body, 
Is justly called a triple governor." 6 

1 Mann, ii. 160. 2 ii. i6o-r6i. 8 ii. 97. 

4 v. 155 ; cf. xi. 232, 242; xii. 3-10. 5 ii. 238, 239. 



42 Antecedents of Buddhism 

" E'en as a driver checks his restive steeds, 
Do thou, if thou art wise, restrain thy passions, 
Which, running wild, will hurry thee away." 1 

" Pride not thyself on thy religious works ; 
Give to the poor, but talk not of thy gifts, 
By pride religious merit melts away, 
The merit of thy alms by ostentation." 2 

" None sees us, say the sinful in their hearts j 
Yes, the gods see them, and the omniscient spirit 
Within their breasts. Thou thinkest, O good friend, 
' I am alone,' but there resides within thee 
A being who respects thy every act, 
Knows all thy goodness and thy wickedness." 3 

" If with the greatest Divinity who dwells 
Within thy breast, thou hast no controversy, 
Go not to Ganges' water to be cleansed, 
Nor make a pilgrimage to Kuril's fields." 4 

'•' Contentment is the root of happiness, 
And discontent the root of misery. 
Wouldst thou be happy, be thou moderate." 5 

" Thou canst not gather what thou dost not sow, 
As thou dost plant the tree, so will it grow. " 6 

" Depend not on another, rather lean 
Upon thyself; trust to thine own exertions, — 
Subjection to another's will gives pain ; 
True happiness consists in self-reliance." 7 

1 Manu, ii. 88. 2 iv. 236, 237. 3 viii. 85, 91. 

* viii. 92. 5 iv. 12. 6 ix. 40. 

7 iv. 160. 



Rules of Conduct 43 

"Strive to complete the task thou hast commenced; 
Wearied, renew thy efforts once again ; 
Again fatigued, once more the work begin. 
So shalt thou earn success and fortune win." J 

" Be courteous to thy guest who visits thee ; 
Offer a seat, bed, water, food enough, 
According to thy substance, hospitality ; 
Naught taking for thyself till he be served ; 
Homage to guests brings wealth, fame, life, and heaven." 2 

" Though thou mayest suffer for thy righteous acts, 
Ne'er give thy mind to aught but honest gain." 3 

<( Fidelity till death, this is the sum 
Of mutual duties for a married pair." 4 

" Then only is a man a perfect man 
When he is three, — himself, his wife, his son, — 
For thus have learned men the law declared, 
' A husband is one person with his wife.' " 5 

" When Goodness, wounded by Iniquity, 
Comes to a court of justice, and the judge 
Extracts not tenderly the pointed dart, 
That very shaft shall pierce him to the heart." 6 

" Daily perform thine own appointed work 
Unweariedly ; and to obtain a friend, — 
A sure companion to the future world, — 
Collect a store of virtue like the ants, 
Who garner up their treasures into heaps ; 
For neither father, mother, wife, nor son, 

1 Manu, ix. 300. 2 iii. 106; iv. 29. 8 iv. 171. 

4 ix. 101. 5 ix. 4<. 6 viii. 12. 



44 Antecedents of Buddhism 

Nor kinsman will remain beside thee then ; 

When thou art passing to that other home, 

Thy virtue will thy only comrade be. 

Single is every living creature born, 

Single he passes to another world, 1 

Single he eats the fruit of evil deeds, 

Single, the fruit of good ; and when he leaves 

His body like a log or heap of clay 

Upon the ground, his kinsmen walk away; 

Virtue alone stays by him at the tomb, 

And bears him through the weary, trackless gloom." 2 

The following passage, not translated by Mr. Wil- 
liams, reminds one of the familiar utterance in Wisdom, 
iv. 8 : — 

" No man is old because his hair is gray ; 
Who knows the Veda, though he still be young, 
Is by the gods accounted rich in years." 3 

1 " Je mourrai seul." — Pascal. 

2 Manu, iv. 238-242. 3 ii. 156. 



CHAPTER IV 

PANTHEISTIC SPECULATIONS 

The development towards monotheism: Prajapati-Brahman — The 
rise of pantheistic speculations — The Upanishads — Brahman- 
Atman-Purusha identified with all things— The incomprehensi- 
bility of Brahman — Maya — Rebirth and misery due to maya — 
Brahman pessimism — Recognition of man's identity with Brah- 
man the only means of salvation — Absorption into Brahman the 
true end of man — Pantheism subversive of traditional Brahman- 
ism, though nominally in harmony with it. 

WE have already seen that the religion of the 
Vedic hymns was characterized by a strong 
monotheistic tendency. The need was felt of a 
supreme god endowed with the attributes of omnip- 
otence, omniscience, and retributive justice ; but in the 
choice of the deity there was great uncertainty. To 
different gods, Varuna, Mitra, Agni, Indra, Soma, 
was accorded in turn the honor of supremacy. The 
worshipper who yesterday praised Varuna as supreme, 
was found to-day bestowing the same compliment on 
Indra or some other deity. For a while, indeed, 
Varuna bid fair to outshine the other gods and win 
his way to exclusive supremacy. But a stronger 
current of popularity set in favor of Indra, who in 
turn soon found a formidable rival in Agni. 



46 Antecedents of Buddhism 

The inconsistency of thus attributing to several 
gods properties that, strictly speaking, could belong 
to one alone, seems to have made itself felt in the 
minds of the priestly class. And so in the later 
Vedic hymns we find a new deity coming into recog- 
nition. This was Prajapati, lord of creatures, omnip- 
otent and supreme, the upholder of the moral order. 
The gods of the ancient pantheon came to be viewed, 
now as the creatures of Prajapati, now as the various 
forms under which he made himself known. This 
new deity seems to have been a priestly, rather than 
a popular, conception. It won its way into the 
liturgy; but meanwhile Indra, Agni, Soma, and the 
other gods continued to hold their old place in 
worship and in popular esteem. Another designa- 
tion of Prajapati was Brahman, and it is by this latter 
name that the supreme deity came in the course of 
time to be commonly addressed. In the popular 
religion, however, Brahman had a rather shadowy 
existence, being more remote than the gods of 
ancient tradition and hence less prominently the 
direct object of worship. 

Such was the development towards monotheism in 
the popular Brahmanic religion. But besides this, 
there was a parallel movement towards pantheism. 

That the gods of the Vedas were but feebly in- 
dividualized is plainly shown by the readiness with 
which the attributes of one god were transferred to 
another. Hence when the new conception of the 



Pantheistic Speculations 47 

supreme deity Prajapati or Brahman came to be 
recognized, it was an easy step to identify with him 
the various gods of tradition. But herein lay a grave 
danger of lapsing into pantheism, owing to the asso- 
ciation of these gods with material phenomena. For 
if the sun-god, fire-god, earth-god, heaven-god, and 
the rest were nothing more than manifestations of 
the supreme deity, then the conclusion seemed 
legitimate to many that the very sun, fire, earth, 
heaven, and other parts of the visible universe were 
identical with Brahman. 

It was but another step to identify man himself 
with this great underlying deity, and the pantheistic 
theory was nearly complete. 

This school of thought was not a popular one. 
It was esoteric in its teachings. Not all Brahmans, 
even, were initiated into its mysterious but precious 
wisdom. It was chiefly the possession of those who 
lived apart in the forest as hermits and ascetics. The 
more influential assumed the role of teachers, founded 
schools, and by the accumulation of their aphorisms 
gave rise to a new class of literature, the philosophic, 
mystical, pantheistic treatises known as the Aranyakas 
and Upanisliads. 

Like the New Testament, the Upanishads do not 
attempt to give a systematic exposition of doctrine. 
Nor do they agree in all details, for they are the 
products of various rival schools of thought. They 
consist largely of dialogues and tracts setting forth 



48 Antecedents of Buddhism 

in a mysterious manner the pantheistic way of salva- 
tion. Thrown together without orderly arrangement, 
these teachings are mingled with many absurdities 
and puerile explanations. In the course of time they 
took their place with the Vedas and Brahmanas as 
inspired books, being also known as the Vcdanta (End 
of the Veda). They became the authoritative basis 
for the Vedanta school of religious philosophy, which 
has maintained its existence down to the present day. 1 

The fundamental tenet of the pantheistic school 
was the absolute identity of all existing things with 
one self-existent, spiritual being. This being went 
by various names. Now it was called Prajapati, now 
Brahman, now Purusha (the Male or Person), now 
Atman (the Self). By Atman was meant primarily 
the principle of life and personality in each individual. 
Not till after the identity of each individual self with 
Brahman was recognized, does the word Atman 
seem to have become a designation of the highest 
deity. 

Like the materialists, the pantheistic Brahmans 
sought to reduce all things animate and inanimate 
to terms of one simple substance. But while the 
former declare that all things are matter, the latter 
held all things to be spirit. The material world with 
its endless variety of forms was Brahman. Man was 
Brahman. The very gods were Brahman. Out of 

1 The principal Upanishads have been translated in vol. I. and XV. 
of the Sacred Books of the East. 



Pantheistic Speculations 49 

Brahman, by a process of emanation, came all in- 
dividual beings, and into Brahman they were des- 
tined ultimately to be absorbed and to lose their 
individuality, just as the drops of spray tossed up 
from the surface of the ocean fall back to become 
one again with the great parent mass. 

" This is the truth. As from a blazing fire sparks like 
unto fire fly forth a thousandfold, thus are various beings 
brought forth from the Imperishable, my friend, and return 
thither also. . . . From him [when entering on creation] 
is born breath, mind, and all organs of sense, ether, air, 
light, water, and the earth, the support of all. . . . From 
him the many Devas too are begotten, the Sadhyas [genii], 
men, cattle, birds. . . . The Person is all this." 1 

" All this is Brahman. Let a man meditate on that [visi- 
ble world] as beginning, ending, and breathing in it [the 
Brahman]. . . - He from whom all works, all desires, all 
sweet odors and tastes proceed, who embraces all this, who 
never speaks and who is never surprised, he, myself within 
the heart, is that Brahman." 2 

What was the nature of this all-embracing, all- 
pervading deity? In the answer to this question, 
we see the wide difference between the anthropo- 
morphic conception of the traditional nature-gods 
and the pantheistic notion of Brahman. Brahman 
is as hard to describe as pure matter. He is without 

1 Mundaka Upanishad, ii. I. — S. B. E. XV. pp. 34-35. Cf. Katha 
Upan. ii. 5.— 5. B. E. XV. p. 19. 

2 Chandogya Upanishad, iii. 14. — S. B. E. I. p. 48. 

4 



50 Antecedents of Buddhism 

parts, without form, a subtile essence that cannot 
be apprehended. 

" That which cannot be seen, nor seized, which has no 
family and no caste, no eyes nor ears, no hands nor feet, 
the eternal, the omnipresent [ali-pervading], infinitesimal, 
that which is imperishable, that it is which the wise regard 
as the source of all beings." * 

In his own domain of eternal, unchangeable exist- 
ence, he is all but unconscious ; for according to 
Hindu thought, there is nothing for him to perceive 
since he himself is all that is, and since perception 
implies duality, a distinction between the perceiver 
and the perceived. 

'•'Verily, beloved, that Self is imperishable and of an in- 
destructible nature. For when there is, as it were, duality, 
then one sees the other, one smells the other, one tastes the 
other, one salutes the other, one hears the other, one per- 
ceives the other, one touches the other, one knows the 
other ; but when the Self only is all this, how should he see 
another, how should he smell another, how should he taste 
another, how should he salute another, how should he hear 
another, how should he touch another, how should he know 
another? How should he know him by whom he knows 
all this? That Self is to be described by no, no ! He is 
incomprehensible, for he cannot be comprehended ; he is 
imperishable, for he cannot perish ; he is unattached, for he 
does not attach himself; unfettered, he does not suffer, he 
does not fail." 2 

i Mund. Upon. i. l.—S.B. E. XV. p. 28. 

2 Brihad-aranyaka Upaiiiskad, iv. 5. — S. B. E. XV. p. 1S5. 



Pantheistic Speculations 5 1 

This recognized unity of all things in the incom- 
prehensible Self, or Brahman, necessarily implied the 
corresponding persuasion that the things of sense 
were not what they seemed. The manifold external 
world was maya, illusion. It had no real existence, 
being but a passing manifestation of Brahman. Even 
the gods were not real entities, having an existence 
of their own. Like man, like the tree and the stone, 
they were but transitory emanations of the one, un- 
changing, incomprehensible spirit. Brahman alone 
existed. He alone was eternal, imperishable. 

It was the misfortune of men at large not to real- 
ize this double truth. To take maya for reality, to 
delude himself into the belief that he was a distinct 
individual with a personality of his own, was the 
fatal mistake of the ignorant and thoughtless man. 
It was this false view of things that lay at the root 
of all misery. For, ignoring his identity with Brah- 
man, he did not see that his true end, and conse- 
quently his highest bliss, consisted in being absorbed 
into the great spirit from which he sprang. He was 
led to set his heart on a merely personal existence. 
He became a creature of desires, and attaching him- 
self to objects unworthy of his affection, stained his 
soul with guilt. 

" Carried along by the waves of the qualities, darkened in 
his imaginations, unstable, fickle, crippled, full of desires, 
vacillating, he enters into belief, believing, ' I am he,' ' this 
is mine ' ; he binds his self by his self, as a bird with a net, 



52 Antecedents of Buddhism 

and overcome afterwards by the fruits of what he has done, 
he enters on a good or bad birth ; downward or upward is 
his course, and overcome by the pairs, he roams about." x 

According to popular Brahmanic belief, the obli- 
gation of being born again was incurred only by 
those whose transgressions in the present life, as well 
as in past forms of existence, had not been expiated 
by proper penance. Rebirth was nothing else than 
a form of punishment. The man who died rich in 
merit and free from guilt was promised a personal 
existence of endless bliss above. 

In the Upanishad school, a different view prevailed. 
Tortures in hell, and vile rebirths continued to be 
recognized as the punishments of wickedness. But 
freedom from all rebirth was also denied to the 
virtuous man who, ignorant of his identity with 
Brahman, counted on a personal existence. By 
virtue of his good works, he would mount to heaven, 
he might even win a place among the gods. But 
this individual life of rest and bliss was at best but 
fleeting. It could not last forever. After a while, 
his store of merits would give out like oil in a lamp, 
and he would then have to descend once more to 
earth to taste in a new birth the bitterness of earthly 
existence. 

" Fools dwelling in darkness, wise in their own conceit 
and puffed up with vain knowledge, go round and round, 

1 Maitrayana-Brahmana Upanishad, iii. 3. — S. B. E. XV. p. 297. 



Pantheistic Speculations 53 

staggering to and fro like blind men led by the blind. 
Children when they have long lived in ignorance, consider 
themselves happy. Because those who depend on their 
good works are, owing to their passions, improvident, they 
fall and become miserable when their life [in the world 
which they had gained by their good works] is finished. 
Considering sacrifice and good works as the best, these fools 
know no higher good, and having enjoyed [their reward] on 
the height of heaven gained by good works, they enter again 
this world or a lower one." a 

" But they who, living in a village, practise [a life of] sacri- 
fices, works of public utility, and alms, they go to the 
smoke, from smoke to night, from night to the dark half of 
the moon, from the dark half of the moon to the six months 
when the sun goes to the south. But they do not reach the 
year. From the months they go to the world of the fathers, 
from the world of the fathers to the ether, from the ether to 
the moon. That is Soma the King. Here they are loved 
by the Devas, yes, the Devas love them. Having dwelt 
there till their [good] works are consumed, they return 
again that way as they came." - 

The prospect of being thus condemned to go 
through the experiences of earthly life again and 
again was calculated to arouse the deepest concern ; 
for Brahmanic speculations had led to a very pessi- 
mistic view of human existence. 

"O Saint," a converted king cries out, "what is the 
use of the enjoyment of pleasure in this offensive, pithless 

1 Mundaka Upanishad, i. 2. — S. B. E. XV. p. 32. 

2 Chandogya Upanishad, v. 10. — S. B. E. I. p. 80. Cf. S. B. E. 
XV. p. 176. 



54 Antecedents of Buddhism 

body — a mere mass of bones, skin, sinews, marrow, flesh, 
seed, blood, mucus, tears, phlegm, ordure, water, bile, and 
slime ! What is the use of the enjoyment of pleasures in 
the body which is assailed by lust, hatred, greed, delusion, 
fear, anguish, jealousy, separation from what is loved, union 
with what is not loved, hunger, thirst, old age, death, illness, 
grief, and other evils. . . . 

" In such a world as this, what is the use of enjoyment of 
pleasures, if he who has fed on them is sure to return [to 
this world] again and again. Deign therefore to take me 
out ! In this world I am like a frog in a dry well. O Saint, 
thou art my way, thou art my way." * 

How, then, was man to escape from the fatal neces- 
sity of being born again and again? What was the 
true way of salvation ? The Upanishads gave answer, 
the perfection of existence is to be gained, not by 
the storing up of merits through prayers, fasts, sacri- 
fices, and virtuous deeds, but by the saving knowledge 
of man's identity with Brahman. As soon as one 
could say from conviction " I am Brahman," the 
bonds were broken that held him fast to individual 
existence and to ever-recurring births. He attained 
to that blessed state of passiveness and inactivity, of 
freedom from all desires, in which he was no longer 
disposed to do evil, no longer anxious to lay up 
merit for a transitory enjoyment of bliss in heaven. 
Mortifications and austerities were still welcome as a 
help to freedom from desires, to tranquillity of life, to 

1 Maitrayana-Brahmana Upan. i. 3-4. — S. B. £. XV. pp. 28S-2S9. 
Cf. Matin, vi. 76, 77. — Institutes of Vishnu, xcvi. — S. B. E. VII. p. 279. 



Pantheistic Speculations 55 

concentration of mind on Brahman. Thus, peaceful 
and tranquil, he lived on till death put an end to the 
seeming duality, and he became absorbed in Brahman, 
like a raindrop in the mighty ocean. 

" Verily in the beginning this was Brahman, that Brahman 
knew [its] Self only, saying, ' I am Brahman.' From it all 
this sprang. Thus, whatever Deva was awakened [so as to 
know Brahman], he indeed became that [Brahman] ; and 
the same with rishis and men. The rishi Vamadeva saw 
and understood it, singing, ' I was Manu [moon], I was the 
sun.' Therefore now also he who thus knows that he is 
Brahman, becomes all this, and even the Devas cannot pre- 
vent it, for he himself is their self." 1 

" Their deeds and their self with all his knowledge become 
all one in the highest Imperishable. As the flowing rivers 
disappear in the sea, losing their name and their form, thus 
a wise man, freed from name and form, goes to the Divine 
Person who is greater than the great. He who knows that 
highest Brahman, becomes even Brahman. . . . He over- 
comes grief, he overcomes evil, free from the fetters of the 
heart, he becomes immortal." 2 

In this way was complete emancipation to be ob- 
tained. Nor did absorption into Brahman, with its 
attendant loss of personality, and its adoption of a 
quasi-unconscious existence for all future time, count 
as a disadvantage. By being thus identified with 
Brahman, the soul passed from its unreal to its real 
condition ; it became raised to the blessed existence 

1 Brih.-Aran. Upan. i. \. — S. B. E. XV p. 88. 

2 Mutid. Upan. iii. 2. — S. B. E. XV. p. 41. 



56 Antecedents of Buddhism 

of divinity itself, and thereby attained a lot beyond 
comparison with any known to man on earth or in 
heaven. 

"If a man is healthy, wealthy, and lord of others, sur- 
rounded by all human enjoyments, that is the highest bless- 
ing of men. Now a hundred of these human blessings make 
one blessing of the fathers who have conquered the world 
[of fathers]. A hundred blessings of the fathers who have 
conquered this world make one blessing in the Gandharva 
world. A hundred blessings in the Gandharva world make 
one blessing of the Devas by merit [work, sacrifice], who 
obtain their godhead by merit. A hundred blessings of the 
Devas by merit make one blessing of the Devas by birth, also 
of a Srotriya l who is without sin and not overcome by de- 
sire. A hundred blessings of the Devas by birth make one 
blessing in the world of Prajapati. ... A hundred bless- 
ings in the world of Prajapati make one blessing in the world 
of Brahman. And .this is the highest blessing." 2 

Such, in brief, was the teaching of the pantheistic 
school as set forth in the Upanishads. While profes- 
sing to be in perfect harmony with the ancient Vedas, 
it was a wide departure from the traditional religion. 
The happiness of heaven, of which the ancient bards 
had sung, and which had been the hope and inspira- 
tion of so many generations, it robbed of all sta- 
bility and permanence, and set up instead, as the 
supreme end of man, the questionable bliss of losing 
one's individuality by absorption into Brahman and 

1 A Brahman thoroughly versed in the Vedas. 

2 Brih.-Aran. Upan. iv. 4. — S. B. E. XV. pp. 171-172. 



Pantheistic Speculations 57 

thus sinking into his eternal sleep of unconscious 
repose. 

It degraded the Vedic gods, and Prajapati the 
personal deity as well, to a condition of comparative 
insignificance, by declaring them to be but transitory 
emanations of Brahman, and by making the salvation 
of each individual depend, not on them, but on his 
personal effort. For the same reason it greatly di- 
minished the importance of the Vedic rites, — the 
prayers, the sacrifices, the penances, — since it was 
not in virtue of these, but by the recognition of one's 
identity with Brahman that one could bring to a happy 
issue the great task of final deliverance. The ideal 
man was no longer the Brahman, intent on the per- 
formance of the multitudinous Vedic ceremonies and 
on the recitation of the Vedic texts, but rather the 
ascetic, far removed from the active walks of life, ab- 
sorbed in contemplation and the practice of austerities. 

While thus bringing the Vedas down from the high 
place of honor they had heretofore enjoyed, the pan- 
theistic innovators gave them a nominal veneration 
and allegiance. Though the higher Upanishad teach- 
ing could alone bring salvation, and thus rendered 
superfluous the lower Vedic teaching, yet the latter 
was recognized to be better suited to cruder minds. 
It was not to be contemned because it did not lead to 
the highest good. They even went so far as to insist 
on the necessity of learning the Vedas and perform- 
ing the Vedic rites before one could enjoy the privi- 



5« 



Antecedents of Buddhism 



lege of acquiring the higher knowledge of salvation. 
The lower knowledge was declared to be an indis- 
pensable preparation for the higher. But the step 
was easy to the more radical and consistent view 
that Vedic rites had no claim on man's attention at 
all. This step was taken by the heretical schools, 
notably by Buddhism. 

REFERENCES 

The following works are recommended for the study of 
Brahmanism : 

I. Texts. 

F. Max Muller, Vedic Hymns. Sacred Books of the East, 
XXXII. 

H. Oldenberg, Vedic Hymns. S. B. E. XLVI. 

J. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of 
the People of India, their Religions and Institutions. 5 vols. London, 
1868-70. 

M. Bloomfield, The Atharva Veda. S. B. E. XLII. 

J. Eggeling, The Satapatha Brahmana. S. B. E. XII., XXVI., 
XLI. 

M. Haug, Aitareya Brahmana, Text, Translation, and Notes. 
Bombay, 1863. 

F. Max Muller, The Upanishads. S. B. E. I., XV. 

H. Oldenberg and F. Max Muller, The Grihya-Sutras, Rules 
of Vedic Domestic Ceremonies. S. B. E. XXIX., XXX. 

G. Buhler, The Sacred Laws of The Aryas as Taught in the 
Schools of Apastamba, Gautama, Vasishtha, and Baudhayana. 
S. B. E. II., XIV. 

G. Buhler, The Laws of Manu. S. B. E. XXV. 

J. Jolly, The Institutes of Vishnu. S. B. E. VII. 

J. Jolly, The Minor Law-books. S. B E. XXXIII. 

G. Thibaut, The Vedanta-Sutras. S. B. E. XXXIV., XXXVIII. 

II. General Treatises. 

A. Barth, The Religions of India; Translated by J. Wood. 
London, 1882. 



Pantheistic Speculations 59 

A. Bergaigne, La religion vedique d'apres les hymnes du Rig- 
Veda. 4 vols. Paris, 1878-97. 

H. T. Colebrooke, Miscellaneous Essays, Edited by E. B. Cowell. 
2 vols. London, 1S73. 

P. Deussen, Das System des Vedanta. Leipzig, 18S3. 

P. Deussen, Die Philosophie der Upanishads. Leipzig, 1899. 

A. E. Gough, The Philosophy of the Upanishads and Ancient 
Indian Metaphysics. London, 1882. 

E. W. HorKiNS, The Religions of India. Boston, 1895. 

A. Kaegi, The Rig-Veda; Translated by R. Arrowsmith. Boston, 
1886. 

C. Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde. 4 bde. Bonn-Leipzig, 
1847-1861. 

J. M. Mitchell, Hinduism Past and Present. London, 1885. 

F. Max Muller, A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature. 
London, i860. 

F. Max Muller, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion 
as Illustrated by the Religions of India. (Hibbert Lectures.) 
London, 1878. 

H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda. Berlin, 1894. 

Chantepie de la Saussaye, Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte. 
2 bde. Freiburg, 1897. Vol. II. 

C. P. Tiele, Outlines of the History of Religion ; Translated 
from the Dutch by J. Estlin Carpenter. London, 1877. 

A. Weber, The History of Indian Literature ; Translated by 
J. Mann and T. Zachariae. London, 1892. 

Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom, or Examples of the Re- 
ligious, Philosophical, and Ethical Doctrines of the Hindus. 
London, 1876. 

Monier Williams, Hinduism. (S. P. C. K.) London, 1897. 

Monier Williams, Brahmanism and Hinduism, or Religious 
Thought and Life in India. London, 1891. 



PART II 

Buddhism 



PART II 

Buddhism 



CHAPTER I 

THE FOUNDER, BUDDHA 1 

Brahman pantheism popular with the caste of warriors — It gives 
rise to rival sects, one of which is Buddhism — Of Buddha but 
little known for certain — His father not a king but a petty 
raja — His birthplace — His various names — His education and 
marriage — His abandonment of home for the ascetic life — His 
long period of missionary activity — The Buddha-Legend — Mir- 
aculous conception and birth — Asita — Life in the palace of 
pleasure — The flight from home — Mortifications — The Bodhi- 
tree — Mara's temptations — Supreme enlightenment — First 
preaching at Benares — Conversions — Devadatta — The fatal 
meal with Chunda — The painful journey to Kusinara — Under 
the Sala-trees — Subhadda — Buddha's last words — Obsequies — 
Division of relics — Estimate of Buddha's character. 

THE pantheistic teaching embodied in the 
Upanishads and reduced to a systematic form 
in the so-called Vedanta school of religious philos- 
ophy was a radical departure from popular Brah- 
manism. It was a new religion under the thin 
disguise of orthodoxy. While professing allegiance 
to the sacred Vedas, it was a menace to the tradi- 

1 The references throughout this volume to works on Buddhism 
apply to the editions indicated in the bibliography. 



64 Buddhism 

tional religion. It might insist on the traditional 
observance of the Vedic rites as a necessary prepa- 
ration for the reception of its own saving truths. 
But in declaring the popular religion utterly helpless 
to secure true salvation, it prepared the way for more 
consistent minds to reject Brahmanism completely. 

From the first the new pantheistic religion seems 
to have found a welcome in the caste of nobles or 
warriors. Doubtless they felt the burden of a reli- 
gion which put so many restraints on their freedom 
of action, whose forms of worship were so many and 
so complicated, whose liturgical language was an 
archaic tongue that few could fully understand, 
whose official ministers were exalted to a position of 
importance far above themselves. They would nat- 
urally look kindly on a movement which offered them 
an escape from the tyranny of the popular religion 
without at the same time exposing them to the 
charge of unorthodoxy. And so, in fact, we are told 
in the Upanishads of kings and nobles professing the 
new faith and taking part in discussions and conver- 
sations concerning it. 

But pantheistic Brahmanism was not without rival 
movements in the claim of having discovered the true 
way of salvation. They started with the same mor- 
bid view that conscious life is a burden and a mis- 
fortune, not worth the living, so that true happiness 
was to be had only in the state of soul like dreamless 
sleep, a state free from all desires, free from con- 



The Founder, Buddha 65 

scious action. They, too, took for granted the 
Upanishacl doctrine of the endless chain of births. 
But they differed from pantheistic Brahmanism both 
in their attitude towards the Vedas and the Vedic 
rites, and in the manner by which emancipation from 
rebirths and from conscious existence was to be 
obtained. In their absolute rejection of Vedic rites, 
they stamped themselves as heresies. Of these the 
one destined to win the greatest renown was 
Buddhism. 

Of Buddha, the founder of this great movement, 
very little is positively known. The portrayal of his 
life which tradition has handed down is so strongly 
colored with the fanciful and marvellous that one is 
tempted to doubt whether it is not all a fiction. One 
of the foremost of living scholars 1 of Buddhism has 
argued with no little persuasiveness that the main 
features of the legendary account of Buddha's career 
are nothing more than adaptations of sun and storm 
myths, clustered about an historical character of 
which little for certain can be known. 

Still with the aid of the ancient Buddhist monu- 
ments, scholars have marked out what seems to be a 
fairly probable sketch of his career. 

The family from which Buddha sprang, was of the 
warrior-caste. They were a family of feudal princes, 
known as the Sakyas, with the cognomen of Go- 

1 E. Senart, Essai stir la legende du Bouddka, son caractire et ses 
origines. 

5 



66 Buddhism 

tama. His father, called in the Buddhist records 
Suddhodana, was a petty raja, ruling over a small 
stretch of country along the southern border of the 
district now known as Nepal. 

The capital of this little kingdom was Kapilavastu, 
a town famous in Buddhist annals, but fallen centuries 
ago in ruins, the very site of which was unknown till 
of late, when it was brought to light by the patient 
researches of the archaeologist Dr. A. A. Fiihrer. 1 
Eighteen miles southwest of this site is the traditional 
spot Lumbini, where, about the middle of the sixth 
century B.C., Buddha was born. 2 

There is reason for suspecting the tradition which 
asserts that his parents gave him the name Siddhattha, 3 
so prophetic of his future greatness. It is more 
likely that the name assigned to him in his infancy 
was Gotama, 4 the cognomen of his father, the name 
by which he is very commonly designated. Later in 
life, he became known to his disciples by other 
names, as Sakya-muni (the Sakya-sage), Sakya- 

1 Cf. A. A. Fiihrer, Monograph on SakyamunPs Birthplace in the 
Nepalese Tarai, ch. viii. 

2 Here Dr. Fiihrer unearthed a pillar of stone containing this in- 
scription of Asoka (250 B.C.) "King Piyadasi, beloved of the gods, 
having been anointed twenty years, came himself and worshipped, 
saying, ' Here Buddha Sakyamuni was born.' And he caused to be 
made a stone representing a horse, and he caused this stone pillar to 
be erected. Because here the worshipped one was born, the village 
of Lummini has been made free of taxes and a recipient of wealth." 
Op. cit. p. 27. 

3 He that succeeds in his aim. 

4 Sanskrit, Gautama. 



The Founder, Buddha 67 

sinha (the Sakya-lion), Bhagavat (the Blessed One), 
Sugata (the Welcome One), Jina (the Conqueror), 
Tathagata (the Perfect One), but most common of 
all, Buddha (the Enlightened). 

A raja's son, he must have received the education 
deemed indispensable to the youths of his caste, and 
was very likely sent to some learned Brahman to 
spend a number of years in the study of the Vedas. 

Following the immemorial customs of the East, 
he married at an early age, and if we may trust tra- 
dition, exercised a prince's privilege of maintaining a 
harem. His principal wife bore him a son. But his 
heart was not at rest. The pleasures of the world 
soon palled upon him. He became convinced of the 
vanity of life, and resolved to renounce his home and 
high station. He put on the hermit's garb and re- 
tired to the forest, devoting himself to penance and 
meditation, studying doubtless the way of salvation 
as taught in the Upanishads. But even this did not 
satisfy his soul. After several years of austere life as 
an ascetic, he became convinced that perfect peace 
could not be obtained by rigorous fasts and mortifi- 
cations. He gave himself to long and serious 
thought, the fruit of which was the persuasion that 
he had discovered the only true way of escaping from 
the misery of rebirths and of attaining to Nirvana. 

He then set out to preach his gospel of deliverance, 
beginning at Benares. His attractive personality and 
his earnest, impressive eloquence soon won over to 



68 Buddhism 

his cause a number of the warrior-caste. Brahmans 
too, felt the persuasiveness of his words, and gave 
adherence to his doctrine. It was not long before 
he had a band of enthusiastic disciples gathered 
about him, in whose company he went from place to 
place, making converts by his preaching. Those of 
his disciples who were sufficiently versed in the new 
doctrine were also sent through the length and 
breadth of the land, carrying the good news of salva- 
tion to high and low, rich and poor, and inviting 
members of all castes to put on the yellow robes of 
the followers of Buddha and seek the rest of Nirvana. 
The converts soon became numerous, and were formed 
into a great brotherhood of monks. Such was the 
work to which Buddha gave himself with unsparing 
zeal for over forty years. At length, worn out by 
his long life of activity, he fell sick after a meal of 
dried boar's flesh, and died in the eightieth year 
of his age. The approximate date of his death is 
480 B.C. 

The tendency to myth-making is natural to man. 
In the present age of positive, critical science, it is 
kept fairly in check. But in the uncritical and over- 
credulous ages of the past, it had almost an unlimited 
range of play. Heroes and saints were hardly re- 
moved from the walks of life when the luxuriant 
growths of legend intertwined themselves with the 
sober records of their lives, often to such a degree as 



The Founder, Buddha 69 

to overshadow and render insignificant what belonged 
to the domain of historic truth. The apocryphal gos- 
pels and some mediaeval lives of saints are illustra- 
tions of this. 1 So likewise the records which have 
come down to us of the founder of Buddhism. 

The meagre facts of Buddha's life have been embel- 
lished with an abundance of fanciful and wonderful 
events, some of which bear a curious though imper- 
fect resemblance to certain features of the life of our 
blessed Lord. 

Legend tells how the future Buddha raised himself 
by a vast series of virtuous lives to the dignity of a 
heavenly spirit, and how, realizing the future great- 
ness that was in store for him, he chose the time and 
place for his birth as the redeemer of suffering hu- 
manity. He chose for his mother the virtuous Maya ; 
for she alone' answered to the conditions requisite for 
giving birth to a Buddha, namely, to be of high fam- 
ily, never to have tasted strong drink, and to have 
been distinguished for chaste and virtuous conduct 
during one hundred thousand worlds. 

In her he was miraculously conceived while she lay 
asleep, and dreamed that he had passed through her 
right side in the guise of a small white elephant. At 
that moment a light of surprising brightness illumi- 
nated ten thousand worlds. Prodigies took place on 

1 In the admirable studies of the Bollandists (Acta Sanctorum) 
this legendary element of Catholic hagiography is noted with the 
greatest care. 



jo Buddhism 

earth. The blind saw, the deaf heard, the dumb 
spoke, the lame walked. Sufferings of all kinds 
ceased. The birds cut short their flight. The rivers 
ceased to flow. Flowers of all kinds burst into richest 
bloom. The air was filled with sweetest odors and 
stirred by gentle, refreshing zephyrs. It bore to the 
ears of astonished peoples the music of heavenly 
spirits. 1 

Wonderful as was his conception, wonderful, too, 
was his birth. His mother, obtaining permission to 
visit the royal garden at Lumbini, repaired thither in 
a splendid chariot, escorted by thousands of gods, 
warriors, and waiting women. As she entered the 
garden the shrubs and trees burst into bloom. She 
directed her steps to a Sala-tree, the boughs of which 
bent down over her. While she stood admiring its 
blossoms, the child was born. Emerging miraculously 
from her right side, he took seven steps towards the 
north, and exclaimed, "This is my last birth. I am 
the greatest of beings." 

The prodigies that had marked the time of his con- 
ception were now once more displayed. With min- 
gled songs of joy from gods and men, the child and 
mother were conveyed to the royal palace. Seven 
days later the mother died, and was reborn in the 
Tusita heaven, being rendered too sacred by Buddha's 
birth to bear other children. 

1 Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 64. Bish. Bigandet, 
Legend of Gaudama, pp. 26 ff. 



The Founder, Buddha 71 

In the Himalaya region lived a venerable rishi or 
ascetic, Asita by name. On the day of Gotama's 
birth, having mounted, as was his wont, to the upper 
heavens to refresh himself after his morning meal, he 
came upon the gods waving their robes and shouting 
with joy, and was told that to King Suddhodana was 
born a son who would one day become a Buddha. 
At once he directed his course towards the kingdom 
Suddhodana, and by his power of rapid flight soon 
reached the city of Kapilavastu. He asked to see 
the wonderful babe, and, having discerned on his tiny 
form the thirty-two marks of a supreme Buddha, 1 he 
told of the glorious career to which the child was 
destined, weeping, however, because he would not 
live himself to see the day. 

Passing over the wonderful incidents of his child- 
hood and early youth, — his marvellous trance under 
the Jambu-tree, his wonderful progress in the arts, 
whereby in a few lessons he surpassed his teachers, 
his easy victory over his youthful competitors in the 
athletic contest, — we come to the critical period in 
his life, when, in the society of his wife Yasodhara and 
innumerable singing girls, he devoted himself wholly 
to a life of pleasure in the splendid palace his father 
had prepared for him. Anxious to have his son be- 
come a universal monarch, the king had taken the 
greatest care to keep from the eyes of the prince 

1 For the thirty-two marks of the Buddha, see H. Alabaster, The 
Wheel of the Law, pp. 110-115, also 312-313. 



72 Buddhism 

every spectacle of human misery. But the gods 
foiled his plans. One day, as Gotama took a drive 
beyond the precincts of his palace, they brought be- 
fore his sight the four objects which were destined to 
turn him to the homeless state, — namely, a man en- 
feebled with old age, one wasted with sickness, a 
corpse, and a monk. By these sights the vanity and 
impermanence of things were brought home to him, 
and he returned to his palace with the resolve to 
abandon all he had thus far held dear, and to become 
an ascetic. In vain that night did his many singing 
girls try with seductive wiles to win him back to his 
customary life of pleasure. At length, overcome by 
weariness, they fell asleep, sprawled about in hideous 
and revolting attitudes. This sight filled Gotama 
with renewed disgust for the world. He felt that the 
time for his act of renunciation was come. At mid- 
night, with the aid of his trusty attendant, he got 
ready his favorite horse, and without a word of fare- 
well, even to his wife and son, galloped off in the 
darkness. Invisible hands opened the gates of the 
palace of the city. At this juncture, Mara, the Lord 
of Death and Pleasure, appeared, and tried to dis- 
suade him from his purpose. " Depart not, O lord," 
he cried out, " in seven days from now the wheel of 
empire will appear, and will make you sovereign over 
the four continents and the two thousand adjacent 
isles. Stop, my lord ! " Gotama heeded not the 
tempter, but sped on through the darkness of the 



The Founder, Buddha 73 

night, and did not stop till break of day, when he 
found himself at the farther shore of a distant river. 

Here he cut off his hair with his sword, and, ex- 
changing his princely robes for the garments of a 
hunter, he sent back his attendant and steed, and be- 
gan to practise the life of an ascetic. 

Many were the Brahman sages he consulted in the 
hope of finding the peace his heart yearned for, but 
in vain. After six years of ever-increasing austerities, 
which reduced him to mere skin and bones, and all 
but caused his death, he became convinced that the 
goal he sought was not to be attained by these exces- 
sive mortifications. He began to take food. His 
five companions in asceticism now abandoned him as 
having lapsed from the life of perfection. 

The great day of his enlightenment was now at 
hand. Having bathed in the river Nairanjana and 
partaken of the rice and cream*, especially prepared 
for him by a shepherd's daughter, he proceeded to 
the Bodhi-tree (the tree of knowledge), and sitting 
cross-legged beneath it, with his face to the east, he 
made the vow not to rise until he had attained com- 
plete enlightenment. 

In this purpose of Gotama, Mara, Lord of Death 
and Pleasure, saw that his own power was being put 
in jeopardy. He recognized the necessity either of 
enticing or of driving him from the Bodhi-tree. 
First, he tried the method of artful persuasion. At 
his bidding, his three daughters sought to turn the 



74 Buddhism 

heart of Gotama to the pursuit of sensual pleasures. 
Their efforts proved in vain. 

Then Mara exerted all his power to drive him from 
the Bodhi-tree. He sent against him a frightful 
tempest and a shower of burning rocks and cinders. 
The very gods fled in dismay, but Gotama sat impas- 
sive. As the falling rocks seemed about to crush 
him, they were turned into a shower of blossoms. 
Hot with rage at being thus balked, the tempter 
assumed a form of hideous appearance, with a thou- 
sand hands holding every conceivable kind of weapon, 
and having mounted his war-elephant one hundred 
and fifty leagues high, came rushing like a flood with 
his host of frightful monsters against the saint ab- 
sorbed in meditation. Calm and undisturbed he sat, 
while the terrible missies hurled at him were changed 
into garlands of flowers. This signal failure caused 
Mara to despair. He withdrew for good with his 
army. Meanwhile the scattered gods took courage, 
and returning to the Bodhi-tree, chanted the victor's 
praises. 

That very night supreme enlightenment was at- 
tained, and as he seized the prize for which he had 
toiled so long and patiently, he burst into the song 
of joy sung by every Buddha. 

" Long have I wandered, long ! 
Bound by the chain of life, 
Thro' many births ; 

Seeking thus long in vain 
Whence comes this life in man, his consciousness, his pain ! 



The Founder, Buddha j§ 

" And hard to bear is birth, 

When pain and death but lead to birth again. 

Found ! It is found ! 
O Cause of Individuality ! 

No longer shalt thou make a house for me 

" Broken are all thy beams, 
Thy ridgepole shattered ! 
Into Nirvana now my mind has past. 
The end of cravings has been reached at last ! " a 

Seven weeks he spent near the Bodhi-tree, enjoy- 
ing the bliss of emancipation. Then, having partaken 
of food offered him by two merchants, he repaired to 
Benares, where he set in motion the wheel of the law. 
His first converts were the five ascetics, his former 
companions, who had deserted him when he gave up 
the practice of fasting. 

Among the disciples who soon rallied in great 
numbers around him was his cousin, Devadatta. Like 
Judas, this disciple sought to thwart the plans of his 
master. Several times he plotted to destroy him. 
At one time he hired thirty bowmen to slay him ; but 
as they drew near, awed by the majesty of his 
presence, they fell at his feet craving forgiveness, 
and, after listening to his words of wisdom, were 
converted. On another occasion, he rolled a huge 
stone down a steep slope below which Buddha was 
walking. It split into fragments on the way, and 
only a piece struck the master, wounding his foot. 
It was dressed by a physician, and found completely 

1 Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 103. 



76 Buddhism 

well the next morning. Another time an infuriated 
elephant was turned upon him in a narrow street. 
As it seemed about to crush him in its wild onset, 
it checked its course and bent in submission before 
him. Finally, the evil-minded disciple sought to slay- 
Buddha with his own hand. But as he approached 
to carry out his purpose, the earth beneath him 
opened and he was cast headlong into hell. His 
punishment consists in having his feet sunk ankle- 
deep into the burning ground. A red-hot pan caps 
his head to the ears. His body is transfixed with 
five red-hot iron bars. This torment he will have to 
endure for a whole revolution of nature. 

The story of Buddha's last days as told in the 
Maliaparinibbana Sutta, or Book of the Great Decease, 
belongs to a much earlier tradition, and while not 
without exaggerations, is marked by much pathos and 
beauty. 

As he sees that his life-work has been accomplished, 
he warns his disciples of his approaching end. 

" Behold, now, O brethren, I exhort you, saying : ' All 
component things must grow old. Work out your salvation 
with diligence. The final extinction of the Tathagata 1 
will take place before long. At the end of three months 
from this time the Tathagata will die ! ' " 2 

The occasion of his fatal illness is the meal pre- 
pared for him and his disciples by Chunda the 
smith. 

1 One of Buddha's appellations. - S. B. E. XI. p. 61 



The Founder, Buddha yj 

" Now at the end of the night, Chunda, the worker in 
metals, made ready in his dwelling-place sweet rice and 
cakes and a quantity of dried boar's flesh. And . he 
announced the hour to the Blessed One, saying, ' The hour, 
Lord, has come, and the meal is ready.' 

" And the Blessed One robed himself early in the morn- 
ing, and, taking his bowl, went with the brethren to the dwel- 
ling-place of Chunda, the worker in metals. When he had 
come thither, he seated himself in the seat prepared for him. 
And when he was seated, he addressed Chunda, the worker 
in metals, and, ' As to the dried boar's- flesh you have made 
ready, serve me with it, Chunda, and as to the other food, 
the sweet rice and cakes, serve the brethren with it.' " 

Having eaten the meal set before him, Buddha 
addresses his host with words striking for their uncon- 
scious humor. 

" ' Whatever dried boar's flesh, Chunda, is left over to thee, 
that bury in a hole. I see no one, Chunda, on earth nor in 
Mara's heaven, nor in Brahma's heaven, no one among 
Samanas and Brahmanas, among gods and men, by whom 
when he has eaten it, that food can be assimilated, save by 
the Tathagata.' ' Even so, Lord ! ' said Chunda, the worker 
in metals, in assent, to the Blessed One. And whatever 
dried boar's flesh remained over, that he buried in a hole. 

" And he went to the place where the Blessed One was ; 
and when he had come there took his seat respectfully on 
one side. And when he was seated, the Blessed One 
instructed and aroused and incited and gladdened Chunda, 
the worker in metals, with religious discourse. And the 
Blessed One then rose from his seat and departed 
thence." 1 

1 S. B. E. XI. pp. 71-72. 



yS Buddhism 

In consequence of this meal, Buddha is seized with 
illness accompanied with intense pain, but mindful 
and self-possessed, he bears it without complaint, and 
sets out for Kusinara. 

" Now the Blessed One went aside from the path to the 
foot of a certain tree ; and when he had come there, he 
addressed the venerable Ananda, and said : ' Fold, I pray 
you, Ananda, the robe, and spread it out for me. I am 
weary, Ananda, and must rest awhile ! ' 

" ' Even so, Lord ! ' said the venerable Ananda, in assent 
to the Blessed One, and spread out the robe folded 
fourfold. 

" And the Blessed One seated himself on the seat prepared 
for him ; and when he was seated, he addressed the vener- 
able Ananda, and said : ' Fetch me, I pray you, Ananda, 
some water. I am thirsty, Ananda, and would drink.' " 

Ananda asks him to wait until they come to another 
stream but a short distance away, for several hundred 
carts have just passed over the stream at hand and 
have made the water muddy. But Buddha repeats 
his request, so that Ananda, taking a bowl, goes down 
to the stream, when, lo ! the water, but a moment ago 
so foul and muddy, is found to be perfectly clear. 

The pangs of illness do not dull his delicate 
consideration for the unsuspecting author of his 
trouble. 

" And the Blessed One addressed the venerable Ananda, 
and said ; ' Now it may happen, Ananda, that some one should 
stir up remorse in Chunda the smith, saying : • This is evil to 



The Founder, Buddha 79 

thee, Chunda, and loss to thee in that when the Tathagata had 
eaten his last meal from thy provision, then he died." 

He bids Ananda comfort Chunda by the thought 
that there is no greater merit than that which is 
acquired in offering food to a Buddha, either just 
before his enlightenment or just before his death. 1 

Ananda, seeing that the end is drawing nigh, 
clothes his master in robes of burnished gold ; but 
their splendor is paled by the exceeding brightness 
of his body. Ananda expresses his astonishment: 

" ' How wonderful a thing it is, Lord, and how marvellous, 
that the color of the skin of the Blessed One should be so 
clear, so exceeding bright ! For when I placed even this 
pair of robes of burnished cloth of gold, and ready for wear 
on the body of the Blessed One, lo ! it seemed as if it had 
lost its splendor.' 

" ' It is even so, Ananda. Ananda, there are two occasions 
on which the color of the skin of a Tathagata becomes clear 
and exceeding bright. What are the two ? 

" ' On the night, Ananda, on which a Tathagata attains to 
the supreme and perfect insight, and on the night when he 
passes finally away, in that utter passing away which leaves 
nothing whatever to remain, on these two occasions the skin 
of a Tathagata becomes clear and exceeding bright.' " 2 

Having come with a large number of brethren to 
the Sala-grove near Kusinara, he addresses his favorite 
disciple : — 

1 6-. B. E. XI. p. 83. 2 Ibid. p. 81. 



80 Buddhism 

" ' Spread over for me, I pray you, Ananda, the couch 
with its head to the north, between the twin Sala-trees. I am 
weary, Ananda, and would lie down.' 

" ' Even so, Lord ! ' said the venerable Ananda, in assent to 
the Blessed One. And he spread a covering on the couch 
with its head to the north, between the twin Sala-trees. And 
the Blessed One laid himself down on his right side, with 
one leg resting on the other ; and he was mindful and 
self-possessed. 

" Now at that time the twin Sala-trees were all one mass 
of bloom with flowers out of season ; and all over the body 
of the Tathagata these dropped and sprinkled and scattered 
themselves, out of reverence for the successor of the 
Buddhas of old. And heavenly Mandarava flowers too and 
heavenly sandal-wood powder came falling from the sky, 
and all over the body of the Tathagata they descended and 
sprinkled and scattered themselves, out of reverence for the 
successor of the Buddhas of old. And heavenly music was 
sounded in the sky, out of reverence for the successor of the 
Buddhas of old. And heavenly songs came wafted from the 
sky, out of reverence for the successor of the Buddhas of 
old." 

Buddha explains the meaning of these prodigies, 
and says : — 

" ' Now it is not thus, Ananda, that the Tathagata is rightly 
honored, reverenced, venerated, held sacred, or revered. 
But the brother or the sister, the devout man or the devout 
woman, who continually fulfils all the greater and the lesser 
duties, who is correct in life, walking according to the pre- 
cepts, — it is he who rightly honors, reverences, venerates, 
holds sacred, and reveres the Tathagata with the worthiest 
homage. Therefore, Ananda, be ye constant in the fulfil- 



The Founder, Buddha 81 

ment of the greater and the lesser duties, and be ye correct 
in life, walking according to the precepts ; and thus, Ananda, 
should it be taught.' " 1 

" Now the venerable Ananda went into the vihara, and 
stood leaning against the lintel of the door, and weeping at 
the thought, Alas ! I remain still but a learner, one who 
has to work out his own perfection. And the Master is 
about to pass away from me, he who is so kind ! " 

Buddha calls Ananda and consoles him. 

" ' Enough, Ananda. Do not let yourself be troubled ; do 
not weep ! Have I not already, on former occasions, told 
you that it is in the very nature of all things most near and 
dear to us that we must divide ourselves from them ? . . . 
For a long time, Ananda, you have been very near to me 
by acts of love, kind and good, that never varies and is 
beyond all measure. ... Be earnest in effort, and you too 
shall soon be free from the great evils — from sensuality, 
from individuality, from delusion, and from ignorance.' " 2 

The chief representatives of Kusinara are allowed 
to pay their respects to the dying Buddha. A men- 
dicant, Subhadda, not of Buddha's order, asks three 
times of Ananda permission to consult his master, 
but each time receives the same answer of refusal : 
" Enough, friend Subhadda, trouble not the Tatha- 
gata. The Blessed One is weary." 

" Now the Blessed One overheard the conversation of the 
venerable Ananda with the mendicant Subhadda. And the 
Blessed One called the venerable Ananda, and said : ' It is 
enough, Ananda. Do not keep out Subhadda. Subhadda, 

i S. B. E. XI. pp. 86-87. 2 Ibid. pp. 95-97. 



82 Buddhism 

Ananda, may be allowed to see the Tathagata. Whatever 
Subhadda may ask of me, he will ask from a desire of knowl- 
edge, and not to annoy me. And whatever I may say in 
answer to his questions, that he will quickly understand.' ' 

Subhadda is admitted. His mind is enlightened 
and his doubts solved by the admonition of Buddha. 
He exclaims : — 

" ' Most excellent, Lord, are the words of thy mouth, most 
excellent ! Just as if a man were to set up that which is 
thrown down, or were to reveal that which is hidden away, 
or were to point out the right road to him who has gone 
astray, or were to bring a lamp into the darkness, so that 
those who have eyes can see external forms : — just even so, 
Lord, has the truth been made known to me, in many a 
figure, by the Blessed One. And I, even I, betake myself, 
Lord, to the Blessed One as my refuge, to the truth and to 
the order. May the Blessed One accept me as a disciple, 
as a true believer, from this day forth, as long as life 
endures ! ' " 1 

" Then the Blessed One addressed the brethren, and said : 
' Behold, now, brethren, I exhort you, saying, Decay is in- 
herent in all component things. Work out your salvation 
with diligence ! ' 

" This was the last word of the Tathagata. 

" When the Blessed One died, there arose, at the moment 
of his passing out of existence, a mighty earthquake, terrible 
and awe-inspiring ; and the thunders of heaven burst forth." 2 

" When the Blessed One died, of those of the brethren 
who were not yet free from the passions, some stretched 
out their arms and wept, and some fell headlong on the 

1 S. B. E. XI. pp. 103 ff. 2 Ibid. p. 116. 



The Founder, Buddha 83 

ground, rolling to and fro in anguish at the thought : ' Too 
soon has the Blessed One died ! Too soon has the Happy 
One passed from existence ! Too soon has the light gone 
out in the world ! ' " 

" But those of the brethren who were free from the pas- 
sions [the Arahats] bore their grief collected and composed 
at the thought : ' Impermanent are all component things. 
How is it impossible that they should not be dissolved?' " x 

The body of Buddha is properly prepared and 
laid on the funeral pile for the burning. But, in 
spite of all efforts, the kindling-wood refuses to take 
fire. Meanwhile the venerable brother Maha Kas- 
sapa arrives with five hundred brethren. 

" Then the venerable Maha Kassapa went to the place 
where the funeral pile of the Blessed One was. And when 
he had'come up to it, he arranged his robe on one shoulder ; 
and bowing down with clasped hands, he thrice walked 
reverently around the pile ; and then, uncovering the feet, 
he bowed down in reverence at the feet of the Blessed One." 

The five hundred brethren do the same. 

" And when the homage of the venerable Maha Kassapa 
and of those five hundred brethren was ended, the funeral 
pile of the Blessed One caught fire of itself." 2 

The bone relics are divided into eight portions, 
and taken to as many different cities, where mounds 
(stupas) are built to preserve them as objects of 
worship. 

1 S.B.E XL p. 117. 2 Ibid. p. 129. 



84 Buddhism 

If we eliminate the miraculous from the records of 
Buddha's career, how much of the residue can we 
accept as reliable information? The answer to this 
question is not easy. The historical basis on which 
the biography of Buddha rests is not to be compared 
with that which belongs to the personality and life- 
work of our blessed Saviour. The Book of the Great 
Decease is, at the very least, a century and a half 
later than the events it describes, and the authorities 
for the earlier portions of Buddha's life are much 
later still. Hence the opportunities for legendary 
growths were ample. But confining our attention to 
the oldest Suttas and Vinaya texts which treat of 
Buddha's missionary career, we shall not go far 
astray, if we take much of what is recorded of him to 
be at least typical of his character and of his work. 
Not all the anecdotes told of him may be historically 
true. But of his reputed sayings and arguments the 
substance is doubtless in great part his. When we 
consider how profound must have been the influence 
he exercised on his generation, when we bear in 
mind that he spent the best part of his long life in 
building up the system that was to immortalize his 
name, that by years of intimate association he had 
made his disciples thoroughly familiar with his re- 
ligious views, his disposition, and his habits of life, 
we need not deem it likely that in the memory of 
those who carried on his work of zeal, his character, 
words, and deeds should quickly fade away. In 



The Founder, Buddha 85 

these earlier traditions, we have, in the main, a fair 
indication both of the man and of his method of 
teaching. 

There is something inspiring in that man of high 
birth and fine culture, leaving all the world holds 
dear, to bend his life's energies to the unselfish task 
of making known to suffering humanity the precious 
deliverance he thought he had discovered. In his 
idea of salvation he missed the mark, but he was 
none the less sincere. It was this sincerity, coupled 
with true greatness of soul, that carried him to the 
successful accomplishment of his plans. None but a 
great and strong soul, none but a lofty and com- 
manding personality, could have exerted so powerful 
an influence on his contemporaries and on succeed- 
ing generations. In the eyes of his admiring follow- 
ers, he was sinless, free from all defects, adorned with 
every grace of mind and heart. We may hesitate 
before taking the highly colored portrait of Buddhist 
tradition for the exact representation of the original. 
But we may credit him all the same with the qualities 
of a good and great man. The records depict him 
moving about from place to place, regardless of com- 
fort, calm and fearless, mild and compassionate, con- 
siderate towards men of every walk of life, absorbed 
with the one idea of freeing them from the bonds of 
misery, and irresistible in the eloquence and skill of 
argument with which he set forth the way of deliver- 
ance. In his mildness, his readiness to overlook 



86 Buddhism 

insults, his zeal, his chastity, his simplicity of life, he 
reminds one not a little of Saint Francis of Assisi. In 
all pagan antiquity, no character has been depicted 
more noble and more winsome. If the portrait is in 
advance of the original, it is nevertheless of great 
value, as setting forth the Buddhist conception of the 
ideal man. 



CHAPTER II 

THE LAW, DHAMMA 

Deliverance from suffering the aim of Buddhism — The Four Great 
Truths — (i) The truth of suffering — Buddhist pessimism — (2) 
The cause of suffering: desire and ignorance — Karma and re- 
birth — (3) The extinction of suffering through the extinction of 
desire — Nirvana, of the living, of the dead — The Buddhist view 
of the soul — The joyful element in Buddhism — Nirvana supple- 
mented by the Brahman paradise, swarga — The latter the more 
popular conception — (4) The eightfold path to Nirvana — Com- 
parison of the Buddhist with the Brahman standard of ethics — ; 
The five great duties — Attitude of Buddhism towards suicide — 
Gentleness and forgiveness of injuries — Examples of Buddhist 
wisdom. 

THE sum and substance of Buddha's teaching, 
known as Dhamma, the Law, centred about 
one supremely important point; namely, deliverance 
from suffering. 

" As the great sea, O disciples, is permeated with but one 
taste, the taste of salt, so also, O disciples, this doctrine 
and this law are pervaded with but one taste, the taste of 
deliverance." 1 

To set men free from the sufferings of conscious 
existence was the great end for which Buddha toiled. 

1 H. Oldenberg, Buddha, His Life, His Doctrines, His Order, p. 265. 
The quotations drawn from this admirable work are versions of texts 
not to be found in the Sacred Books of the East. 



88 Buddhism 

To accomplish this purpose, to lead men to everlast- 
ing rest, he had to win their assent to the four Great 
Truths concerning Suffering, the Cause of suffering, 
the Extinction of suffering, and the Path leading to 
the extinction of suffering. It is under these four 
heads that Buddha's law is summed up. Let us 
examine them one by one. 

The first truth was the truth of suffering. 

" This, O Bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering : birth is 
suffering; decay is suffering; illness is suffering; death is 
suffering. Presence of objects we hate is suffering ; separa- 
tion from objects we love is suffering ; not to obtain what 
we desire is suffering. Briefly, the fivefold clinging to 
existence is suffering." 1 

Life in all its forms is suffering and is not worth 
living. This pessimistic view, the fruit of Brahman 
pantheistic speculation, finds expression in language 
almost identical with what we find in the Upanishads. 
The body is held in the same morbid contempt. 

" Look at the dressed-up lump, covered with wounds, 
joined together, sickly, full of many thoughts, which has no 
strength, no hold ! This body is wasted, full of sickness, 
and frail ; this heap of corruption breaks to pieces ; life in- 
deed ends in death. Those white bones, like gourds thrown 
away in the autumn, what pleasure is there in looking at 
them? After a stronghold has been made of the bones, it is 
covered with flesh and blood, and there dwell in it old age 
and death, pride and deceit." 2 

1 Mahavagga, i. 6, 19. — S. B. E. XIII. p. 95. 

2 Dhammapada, 146-150.-5. B. E. X. p. 41. Cf. S. B, E. X. Pt. 
ii. p. 32. 



The Law, Dhamma 89 

In the world of life and action, all is impermanent 
and subject to decay, all is disappointment and 
bitterness, vanity and vexation of spirit. 

" There are five things which no Samana or Brahman and 
no god, neither Mara, nor Brahma, nor any being in the 
universe can bring about. What five things are these ? 
That what is subject to old age should not grow old ; that 
what is subject to sickness should not be sick ; that what is 
subject to death should not die ; that what is subject to 
decay should not decay ; that what is liable to pass away, 
should not pass away: — this can no Samana bring about, 
nor any Brahman, nor any god, neither Mara nor Brahman 
nor any being in the universe." 1 

Life is thus strongly flavored with the bitterness of 
disappointment, of fear, of anxiety, of pain, of sorrow, 
of loss, of decay. And of this misery there is no end ; 
for as soon as one wretched life is ended, another 
follows in its place. 

"The pilgrimage of beings, my disciples, has its beginning 
in eternity. No opening can be discovered, from which 
proceeding, creatures mazed in ignorance, fettered by a 
thirst for being, stray and wander. What think ye, disciples, 
whether is more, the water which is in the four oceans, or 
the tears which have flowed from you and have been shed by 
you while you strayed and wandered on this long pilgrimage, 
and sorrowed and wept because that was your portion which 
ye abhorred, and that which ye loved was not your portion ? 
A mother's death, a father's death, a brother's death, a sister's 
death, a son's death, a daughter's death, the loss of relations, 

1 Oldenberg, Op. cit. p. 217. 



90 Buddhism 

the loss of property, — all this ye have experienced through 
long ages. And while ye experienced this through long ages, 
more tears have flowed from you and have been shed by you, 
while you strayed and wandered on this long pilgrimage, and 
sorrowed and wept . . . than all the water which is in the 
four oceans." 1 

What is the fundamental cause of this misery of 
life? The answer to this question constitutes the 
second of the four great truths. 

"This, O Bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cause of 
suffering : thirst that leads to rebirth, accompanied by pleas- 
ure and lust, finding its delight here and there. [This thirst 
is threefold], namely, thirst for pleasure, thirst for existence, 
thirst for prosperity." 2 

The source of the mischief thus lies in the will. It 
is the desire to live, to preserve one's individual exist- 
ence, the desire to satisfy the cravings of sensual 
nature, the thirst for name and wealth and power, 
that subjects man to the endless round of rebirths 
with their unavoidable accompaniments of decay, im- 
permanence, sickness, misery. 

But is desire, after all, the ultimate source of re- 
birth and its attendant misery? It seems not; for in 
the abstruse chain of cause and effect which it was 
the duty of every perfect monk to understand, igno- 
rance is put down as the primary cause of suffering. 
This chain, which scholars find hard to explain, runs 
as follows : — 

1 Oldenberg, Op. cit- pp. 216-217. 2 5. B. E. XIII. p. 95. 



The Law, Dhamma 91 

" From Ignorance spring the Sankharas. 

" From the Sankharas springs Consciousness. 

" From Consciousness spring Name and Form. 

" From the Name and Form spring the Six Provinces [of 
the six senses]. 

" From the six Provinces springs Contact. 

" From Contact springs Sensation. 

" From Sensation springs Thirst [or Desire]. 

" From Thirst springs Attachment. 

" From Attachment springs Existence. 

" From Existence springs Birth. 

" From Birth spring Old Age and Death, grief, lamenta- 
tion, suffering, dejection, and despair." 1 

If we ask what is this ignorance which lies at the 
root of all suffering, we are told, the ignorance of the 
great four truths. It is the " delusion which conceals 
from man the true being and the true value of the 
system of the universe. Being is suffering : but igno- 
rance totally deceives us as to this suffering : it causes 
us to see instead of suffering, a phantom of happiness 
and pleasure." 2 

In thus attributing the origin of misery to ignorance 
and desire, Buddha was practically in harmony with 
the Upanishad teaching, according to which igno- 
rance of one's identity with Brahman gave rise to the 
desire for individual existence with its attendant 
misery. But while the pantheistic Brahman laid chief 

1 Mahavagga, i. I, 2. — 6". B. E. XIII. pp. 75-77. 

2 Oldenberg, Op. cit. p. 241. 



92 Buddhism 

stress on ignorance, Buddha seems to have empha- 
sized desire, as the principal cause of rebirth and 
suffering. 

In connection with this, we may note another point 
of doctrine for which Buddha was indebted to Brah- 
manic theology. It is the doctrine of karma. Like 
the Brahman, Buddha recognized that in the unceas- 
ing chain of births, the character of each successive 
existence of the individual was the net result of his 
good and evil deeds in the preceding life. Grades of 
punishment proportionate to the degree of guilt 
awaited the sinner at death, varying from rebirth as a 
man of lower caste down to a life of appalling but 
limited duration in one of the numerous hells. On 
the other hand, various other forms of existence on 
earth and in heaven were the expected rewards of 
those who, though not yet ripe for Nirvana, acquitted 
themselves as men of virtue. This inheritance of a 
sanction after death of good and evil deeds — presup- 
posing, in the last analysis, belief in man's dependence 
on a supernatural being — is one of the incongruities 
of Buddhism. 

It was the aim of popular Brahmanism to help man 
to ward off by suitable penance the sad consequences 
of his transgressions and attain a happy existence in 
heaven. 

Buddhism, on the contrary, sought, like the Upan- 
ishad pantheism, to secure for man liberation from all 
individual, conscious existence, even life in heaven; 



The Law, Dhamma 93 

for all forms of individual existence were held to be 
impermanent, subject to decay and suffering. 

This brings us to the third great truth as set forth 
by Buddha, that of the extinction of suffering. 

" This, O Bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cessation of 
suffering : [it ceases with] the complete cessation which con- 
sists in the absence of every passion — with the abandoning 
of this thirst, with the doing away with it, with the deliverance 
from it, with the destruction of desire." l 

Here again, the strongly developed ethical charac- 
ter of Buddhism asserts itself. The pantheistic Brah- 
man said : recognize your identity with the god 
Brahman and you thereby cease to be a creature of 
desires, you are no longer subject to rebirths. He 
laid chief stress on the act of the intellect. 

Buddha, on the contrary, puts abstruse specula- 
tion in the background, and insists on the saving act 
of the will, the suppression of all desire, as the one 
thing needful. 

With the pantheist, salvation is chiefly through 
knowledge. With the Buddhist, it is chiefly through 
volition. Yet the value of right knowledge is not 
overlooked. . 

" While he thus knows and apprehends [the four sacred 
truths], his soul is freed from the calamity of desire, freed 
from the calamity of becoming, freed from the calamity of 
error, freed from the calamity of ignorance. In the deliv- 
ered there arises the knowledge of his deliverance, ended 
1 S. B. E. XIII. p. 95. 



94 Buddhism 

is rebirth, fulfilled the law, duty done ; no more is there 
any returning to this world : this he knows." 1 

What is this extinction of desire which leads to 
extinction of suffering? Is it the extinction of lust, 
of consuming ambition, of every selfish, unbridled 
craving that finds its satisfaction in sin? It is this 
but not this only. The extinction of evil desires will 
save a man from the punishments of vile rebirths, 
but it will not release him from the misery of exist- 
ence. To this end, the extinction is needed of all 
desire save, perhaps, that of being rid of miserable 
existence itself. Deliverance from rebirth and its 
attendant suffering seems to have been a legitimate 
object of yearning. But to attain this great end, all 
other forms of desire" must be absolutely quenched, 
— the natural cravings for the solace and comforts 
of married life, the desire for lawful pleasures and 
satisfactions of all kinds, the desire even to preserve 
one's conscious existence. It is only in the extinc- 
tion of every desire that cessation of misery is to be 
attained. It is this state of absence of desire and of 
pain which is known as Nirvana (Nibbana). 

The word Nirvana was not coined by Buddha. It 
was already current. Yet in the mind of Buddha it 
doubtless assumed a new shade of meaning. In the 
new religion it conveyed the notion of complete 
repose, of perfect freedom from desire and pain. 

1 Oldenberg, Op. cit. p. 263. 



The Law, Dhamma 95 

The word Nirvana means a " blowing out," an 
extinction, primarily, of the fire of desire, of ill-will, 
of delusion, of all, in short, that binds the individual 
to rebirth and misery. In this sense, it is the pos- 
session of every follower of Buddha as soon as he 
has fully mastered the four sacred truths and thereby 
attained to the perfection of the arhat. " The dis- 
ciple who has put off lust and desire, rich in wisdom, 
has here on earth attained the deliverance from death, 
the rest, the Nirvana, the eternal state." x It was 
thus, in the living saint, a state of calm repose, of 
indifference to life and death, to pleasure and pain, 
a state of imperturbable tranquillity, where the sense 
of freedom from the bonds of rebirth caused the dis- 
comforts, as well as the joys, of life to sink into in- 
significance. It was the state which enabled one of 
Buddha's prominent disciples to say: "I long not 
for death, I long not for life, I wait till my hour 
comes, like a servant waiting for his reward ; I long 
not for death, I long not for life, I wait till my hour 
comes, alert and with watchful mind." 2 

Between this form of Nirvana as attained by the 
perfected Buddhist before death, and the tranquillity 
of soul of the Brahman ascetic after recognizing fully 
his identity with Brahman, there is little difference. 
Of the latter it is said : " Let him not desire to die, 
let him not desire to live; let him wait for [his ap- 

1 Oldenberg, Op. cit. p. 264. 

2 Ibid.'?. 265. 



g6 Buddhism 

pointed] time as a servant [waits] for the payment 
of his wages." 1 

But it is not till the Buddhist arhat has passed 
from earthly existence that Nirvana is realized in its 
completeness. In this strict sense, it implies much 
more than a peaceful indifference to pleasure and 
pain. He who has entered into Nirvana through 
death has no longer any conscious existence, nothing 
resembling the life of men or of gods. " The body 
of the Perfect One, O disciples," runs an old text 
concerning Buddha, " subsists, cut off from the 
stream of becoming. As long as his body subsists, 
so long will gods and men see him. If his body be 
dissolved, his life run out, gods and men shall no 
more behold him." 2 

When asked the meaning of the cloud of smoke 
which flurried about the corpse of the arhat God- 
hika, Buddha is made to say: "That is Mara, the 
wicked One, O disciples ; he is looking for the noble 
Godhika's consciousness. But the noble Godhika 
has entered into Nirvana ; his consciousness nowhere 
remains." 3 

Eternal, unconscious repose — such is the state of 
Nirvana. Such, too, was the state of absorption in 
Brahman, the goal towards which the pantheist 
directed his religious thought and action. The 
beatific state to which the latter aspired implied 

1 Mann, vi. 45. - Oldenberg, Op. cit. p. 266. 

3 Ibid. p. 266. 



The Law, Dhamma 97 

eternal existence of identity with Brahman. Did 
Nirvana likewise imply continuity of existence or 
did it mean annihilation? 

Many scholars have taken Nirvana to be synony- 
mous with annihilation. And, in truth, if the psy- 
chological speculations found in the sacred books 
are part of Buddha's personal teaching, it is hard 
to see how he could have held aught else as the 
supreme goal of noblest endeavor. 

According to these speculations, there is no such 
thing in man as a permanent soul, surviving after 
death and preserving one's personality unchanged. 
Every individual is a compound of various elements 
which admit of classification into five groups: (1) 
bodily form, (2) sensations, (3) perceptions, (4) 
conformations (jankharas, inner workings of intellect 
and will), (5) consciousness. None of these by itself 
constitutes the ego, which is the joint product of 
all combined, just as the chariot is a complex unit not 
to be identified with any one of its component parts. 1 
The proportions in which these constituent elements 
combine vary in each individual, being determined by 
the karma resulting from his previous existence. At 
death they fall away, to be forthwith succeeded by 
a new combination. The element of consciousness 
seems to be the connecting thread running through 
the constant succession of new existences, but in 

1 Cf. Questions of King Milanda, ii. I, l. — S. B. E. XXXV. pp. 
42 ff. 

7 



98 Buddhism 

reality each new combination gives rise to a different 
personality. The logical result of this philosophy is 
that when in Nirvana these constituent elements part 
company, never to be recombined into a new ego, 
there is no further existence, but absolute annihilation. 

If Buddha really held this view of human personal- 
ity, he carefully abstained in his teaching from draw- 
ing its logical conclusion. Neither did he declare 
Nirvana to be, as some scholars think, " the very per- 
fection of existence, the beatitude of repose beyond 
comparison with earthly joys." 1 The researches of 
Professor Oldenberg and others have made it clear 
that, in the beginning, positive teaching on the nature 
of Nirvana after death was expressly avoided. 

When asked by the venerable disciple Malukya, in 
the most direct manner, whether he, the Perfect One, 
would live or not after death, Buddha refused to give 
any information, on the ground that it was irrelevant, 
not conducive to peace and enlightenment. It was 
sufficient to know the four truths, and hence that 
Nirvana was liberation from suffering. "Therefore, 
Malukya, whatsoever has not been revealed by me, 
let that remain unrevealed ; and what has been re- 
vealed, let it be revealed." 2 

On another occasion a wandering monk, not of his 
order, asked him two questions: "Is there the ego? 

1 Cf. Max Miiller, in his introduction to Buddhaghosha , s Parables, 
by T. Rogers. 

2 Oldenberg, Op. cit. pp. 275-276. 



The Law, Dhamma 99 

Is there not the ego? " These questions Buddha met 
with absolute silence. When asked later by his faith- 
ful disciple Ananda why he had not answered, Buddha 
replied that to have said "the ego is" would have 
confirmed the heretical doctrine of the permanence 
of things, while to have said "the ego is not" would 
have confirmed the doctrine of those who believed in 
annihilation. It would have caused the monk to be 
thrown from one bewilderment into another : "My 
ego did not exist before? But now it exists no 
longer." * 

To pronounce, then, either upon the existence or 
upon the non-existence of those who entered into 
Nirvana was declared wrong by Buddha. As was the 
teaching of the Master, so was that of his intimate 
disciples. 

A monk, who interpreted Nirvana to mean annihil- 
ation, was taken to task by the venerable Sariputta, 
who by a series of pointed questions convinced him 
that he had no right to hold such a view, since the 
subject was involved in mystery. 2 

The answer which the nun Khema made to the 
King of Kosala, when inquiring about the existence 
of the deceased Buddha, was in a similar vein. 
Whether the Perfect One exists after death, whether 
he does not exist after death, whether he exists and 
at the same time does not exist after death, whether 
he neither exists nor does not exist after death, has 

1 Oldenberg, Op. cit. pp. 272-273. 2 Ibid. pp. 281-282. 



ioo Buddhism 

not been revealed by Buddha. Why not? Because 
the existence of the Perfect One is a subject too deep 
to be fathomed, like the ocean. " ' The Perfect One 
exists after death,' this is not apposite ; ' The Perfect 
One does not exist after death,' this is also not appo- 
site ; ' The Perfect One at the same time exists and 
does not exist after death,' this is also not apposite ; 
' The Perfect One neither does nor does not exist 
after death,' this also is not apposite." 1 

Since, then, the nature of Nirvana was too mysteri- 
ous to be grasped by the Hindu mind, too subtile to 
be expressed in terms either of existence or non- 
existence, it is idle to attempt a positive solution of 
the question left purposely unanswered by Buddha. 
It suffices to know that it meant a state of unconscious 
repose, of endless tranquillity, undisturbed by feelings 
of joy or sorrow. Between such a state and that of 
positive annihilation, there is practically nothing to 
choose. The Buddhist ideal is that of an eternal 
sleep which knows no awakening. In this respect it 
is practically one with the ideal of the pantheistic 
Brahman. 

A religious system that persuades its votaries that 
life at its best is not worth living, that offers as its 
highest consolation an eternity of unconscious repose, 
seems melancholy enough in our eyes. Its natural 
fruit would seem to be pessimism and despair. Yet 
with the Indian Buddhist it was not so. For him, 
1 Oldenberg, Op. cit. pp. 278-2S0. 



The Law, Dhamma 101 

liberation from the misery of individual existence was 
a consummation devoutly to be wished. Nirvana 
was the summum bonum. It was to him what heaven 
is to the zealous Christian, — the one great object of 
yearning and of hope. And so the dominant tone in 
Buddhism is that of joy. 

" Let us live happily, then, free from ailments among the 
ailing ! . . . Let us live happily, then, though we can call 
nothing our own ! We shall be like the brightest, gods feeding 
on happiness ! . . . Health is the greatest of gifts, contented- 
ness the best riches ; trust is the best of relationships ; Nir- 
vana the highest happiness." 1 

But the recognition of this heroic ideal by Buddha's 
followers does not mean that it was for all alike an 
object of enthusiastic longing. As may well be 
imagined, only the more resolute souls bent their 
energies to the stern task of attaining at death to 
Nirvana. It is only of the noble few that the 
Buddhist verse holds true : " Even in heavenly 
pleasures he finds no satisfaction, the disciple who 
is fully awakened delights only in the destruction of 
all desires." 2 

Buddha's system conveniently provided for those 
who accepted in theory the teaching that Nirvana 
alone was the true end of man, but who still lacked 
the courage to cut aloof from all individual existence. 
The various heavens of Brahman theology, with their 

1 Dhammapada, 198, 200, 204. — 5. B. E. X. pp. 53, 55. 

2 Dhammapada, 187. — S. B. E. X. p. 51. 



102 Buddhism 

positive, even sensual, delights were retained as the 
reward of virtuous souls not yet ripe for Nirvana. 
To aspire after such rewards was permitted to the 
lukewarm monk ; it was commended to the layman. 
Hence the frequent reference, even in the earliest 
Buddhist scriptures, to heaven (swarga) and to future 
delights as an encouragement to right conduct. 

" Follow the law of virtue ! The virtuous rest in bliss in 
this world and in the next." " This world is dark, few only 
can see here ; a few only go to heaven, like birds escaped 
from the net." " The uncharitable do not go to the world 
of the gods." " Some people are born again ; evil-doers go 
to hell ; righteous people go to heaven ; those who are free 
from all worldly desires attain Nirvana." x 

Buddha himself is made responsible for the state- 
ment that they who die on a pilgrimage to the four 
holy places " shall be reborn after death, when the 
body shall dissolve, in the happy realms of heaven." 2 

Sufficient prominence is not generally given to 
this more popular side of Buddhist teaching, with- 
out which the followers of Buddha would have been 
limited to an insignificant and short-lived band of 
heroic souls. It is this element, so prominent in the 
inscriptions of Asoka, that tempered the severity of 
Buddha's doctrine of Nirvana and made his religion 
acceptable to the masses. It was destined in course 
of time to triumph over the primitive notion of 

1 Dhammapada, 16S, 174, 177, 126. 

2 Book of the Great Decease, v. 22. — 3". B. E. XI. p. 91. Vide infra, 
pp. 127, 134- 



The Law, Dhamma 103 

Nirvana itself, reducing it to a heaven of positive 
and never-ending delights. 

But how was man to attain to the extinction of 
desire and thus share in the supreme bliss of Nir- 
vana? The answer is found in the last of the four 
great truths. 

" This, O Bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the path whicli 
leads to the cessation of suffering, that holy eightfold path, 
that is to say, right belief, right aspiration, right speech, right 
conduct, right means of livelihood, right endeavor, right 
memory, right meditation." x 

In this eightfold path, we have an abstract sum- 
mary of the laws of conduct to which every one 
aspiring to Nirvana should conform. They fall 
naturally under two heads: first, those belonging 
to the domain of morals ; secondly, those touching 
on discipline. The latter division will be sufficiently 
treated when we speak of the Order, the Sangha. 
It is chiefly to the ethical code recognized by 
Buddha that we now turn our attention. 

If we compare the ethical code of Buddha with 
that recognized in the Brahman law-books, we note 
two chief points of difference. The first is the 
absence in Buddhism, to a large extent, of those 
puerile precepts and prohibitions that must have 
made life under the old religion so irksome. The 
second is the severe, though logical, attitude which 
Buddha took towards married life. With the excep- 
1 S. B. E. XIII. p. 95. 



104 Buddhism 

tion of these two points, Buddhist ethics differ but 
little from those of Brahmanism. If we may trust 
the evidence drawn from Buddhist sources, the 
Brahmans of Buddha's day were far from exhibit- 
ing in their manner of life the realization of the high 
moral standard we find in the Laws of Mann. The 
followers of Buddha, fired by the enthusiasm of the 
new movement, gave examples of moral earnestness 
that put the Brahmans to the blush and told strongly 
in favor of the Buddhist claims. Yet, in theory, the 
moral code of Buddhism was little more than a copy 
of that of Brahmanism. 

Buddhist morality, like the Brahman, did not con- 
sist in mere outward conformity to the standard of 
right and wrong. It had its source in the will. A 
man's thoughts, no less than his words and deeds, 
formed the basis of his moral worth. 

This important ethical truth finds abundant expres- 
sion in the Buddhist scriptures, notably in the Bud- 
dhist book of proverbs known as the Dhammapada 
(Path of the Law). 

" All that we are is the result of what we have thought : 
it is founded in our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. 
If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows 
him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the 
carriage. ... If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, 
happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves 
him." 1 

1 Dhammapada, 1-2. S. B. E. X. pp. 3 and 4. 



The Law, Dhamma 105 

" Let the wise man guard his thoughts, for they are diffi- 
cult to perceive, very artful, and they rush wherever they 
list : thoughts well guarded bring happiness." 1 

" Even the gods envy him whose senses, like horses well 
broken in by the driver, have been subdued, who is free from 
pride, and free from appetites. . . . His thought is quiet, 
quiet are his word and deed, when he has obtained freedom 
by true knowledge." 2 

" Not nakedness, nor platted hair, nor dirt, nor fasting, 
nor lying on the ground, nor rubbing with dust, nor sitting 
motionless can purify a mortal who has not overcome 
desire." 3 

The five great duties, constituting the " fivefold 
uprightness " are an echo of Brahman teaching. 
They are: (1) not to kill any living creature; (2) 
not to steal; (3) not to act unchastely; (4) not to 
lie; (5) not to drink intoxicating liquors. 

The lawfulness of hastening one's entrance into 
Nirvana by suicide would seem to be a natural de- 
duction from the pessimistic premises laid down by 
Buddha ; and in fact there are a few instances on 
record of Buddhist arhats dying by their own hands 
without any blame attaching to their conduct. But 
these instances are rare exceptions. To incite any- 
one to take his own life was an offence rendering a 
monk liable to expulsion from the community. 

"Whatsoever Bhikkhu shall knowingly deprive of life a 
human being, or shall seek out an assassin against a human 

1 Dhammapada, 36. S. B. E. X. p. 12. 

2 Ibid. 94 and 96, p. 28. 3 Ibid. 147, p. 38. 



106 Buddhism 

being, or shall utter the praises of death, or incite another to 
self-destruction, saying, ' Ho ! my friend ! what good do 
you get from this wicked, sinful life? Death is better to 
thee than life ! ' — if, so thinking, and with such an aim, he, 
by various argument, utter the praises of death or incite 
another to self-destruction — he too is fallen into defeat, he 
is no longer in communion." 1 

Lust, covetousness, envy, pride, harshness, are 
fittingly condemned. But what, perhaps, brings 
Buddhism most strikingly in contact with Chris- 
tianity, is its spirit of gentleness and forgiveness of 
injuries. To cultivate benevolence towards men of all 
classes, to avoid anger and physical violence, to be 
patient under insult and injury, to return good for 
evil, all this was inculcated in Buddhism and helped 
to make it one of the gentlest of religions. Buddha 
did not originate this notion of gentleness and for- 
giveness of wrongs. It already existed in Brahmanic 
teaching. But in Buddhism it seems to have been 
brought into greater prominence. 

" Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him 
overcome all bondage! . . . He who holds back rising 
anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real driver ; other 
people are but holding the reins. Let a man overcome 
anger by love ; let him overcome' evil by good ; let him over- 
come greed by liberality, the liar by truth ! Speak the truth, 
do not yield to anger ; give, if thou art asked for little ; by 
these three steps thou wilt go near the gods." 2 

1 Patimokkha. — S. B. E. XIII. p. 4. 

2 Dhammapada, 221-224. Cf. 231-234. 



The Law, Dhamma 107 

The following thoughts from the Dhammapada are 
further illustrations of Buddhist wisdom in its highest 
form. 

" Let no man make light of evil, saying in his heart : it 
will not come nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water- 
drops, a water-pot is filled. The fool becomes full of evil, 
even if he gather it little by little." x 

" If one man conquer in battle a thousand times a thou- 
sand men, and if another conquer himself, he is the 
greatest of conquerors." 2 

" Better the life of one day, if a man is virtuous and re- 
flecting, than that of a hundred years, if he is vicious and 
unrestrained." 8 

" A man is not an elder, because his hair is gray. His age 
may be ripe, but he is called Old-in-vain. He in whom 
there is truth, virtue, love, restraint, moderation, he who is 
free from impurity and is wise, he is called an elder." 4 

" It is easy to see another's faults, it is hard to see one's 
own. A man winnows his neighbor's faults like chaff, but 
his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides a bad die from the 
gambler." 5 

1 Dham. 121. 2 Ibid. 103. 8 Ibid. 1 10. 

4 Ibid. 260-261. 5 Ibid. 252. 



CHAPTER III 

THE BUDDHIST ORDER, SANGHA 

Celibacy exacted of Buddha's followers — Severe attitude towards 
marriage — Poverty and asceticism also requisite — Excessive 
austerities avoided — Alms the means of subsistence: hence the 
name Bhikkhus — Neither manual labor nor works of charity in 
harmony with Buddhist discipline — Distinctions of birth ignored 

— Buddha not a social reformer — The Novitiate — Rite of initia- 
tion — Rule of life — Clothing and food — Avoidance of luxuries 
and worldly amusements — Cleanliness exacted — Precautions to 
be observed in traversing the village and in the presence of women 

— The rite of confession, the Patimokkha — The retreat during 
the rainy season, Vassa — Meditation — Grades of perfection — 
Bhikkhunis — The lay element in Buddhism. 

THE extinction of suffering through the extinc- 
tion of desire is the keynote of Buddhism. The 
path to Nirvana was marked by the gravestones, not 
only of every unworthy passion, but of every legiti- 
mate desire of human nature. The perfect life, of 
which Buddha set the example and to which he in- 
vited his fellow-men, was a life of celibacy and 
asceticism. 

It was first of all a life of celibacy. Conjugal life, 
being founded on the reproductive instinct, was in- 
compatible with the quenching of desire and the ex- 



The Buddhist Order, Sangha 1 09 

tinction of individual existence. Hence detachment 
from family life was the first requisite of a true fol- 
lower of Buddha. 

The attitude which Buddha took towards marriage 
was excessively derogatory and severe. " A man 
should avoid married life," he taught, " as if it were 
a burning pit of live coals." 1 A converted house- 
holder is represented as saying: — ■ 

" Full of hindrances is the household life, a path defiled 
by passion : free as the air is the life of him who has re- 
nounced all earthly things. How difficult it is for the man 
who, dwells at home to live the higher life in all its fulness, 
in all its purity, in all its bright perfection ! Let me then cut 
off my hair and beard, let me clothe myself in orange-colored 
robes, and let me go forth from a household life into the 
homeless state ! " 2 

But detachment from family life was not the only 
sacrifice demanded of Buddha's followers. They had 
to stand aloof from all that binds the heart to indi- 
vidual existence ; they had to give up worldly pos- 
sessions, and worldly power, to detach themselves from 
everything that could minister to pride and softness 
and ease. They had, in a word, to live a life of pov- 
erty and asceticism. 

It is easy to see in all this the influence of Brahman 
asceticism. Still, in exacting of his followers a life of 

1 Dhammika Sutta, 21. Quoted by Monier Williams, Buddhism, 
p. 88. 

2 Tevijja Sutta, i. 47.— S. B. E. XI. p. 187. 



1 10 Buddhism 

severe simplicity, Buddha did not go to the extremes 
of fanaticism which characterized most of the ascetics 
of his day. He chose a more rational course, which 
excluded a life of unrelenting austerity no less than 
one of ease and abundance. In his first sermon 
preached at Benares to the ascetics who had been his 
former companions in the practice of excessive mor- 
tifications, he said : — 

" There are two extremes, O Bhikkhus, which he who has 
given up the world ought to avoid. What are these two 
extremes? A life given to pleasure, devoted to pleasures 
and lusts : this is degrading, sensual, vulgar, ignoble, and 
profitless ; and a life given to mortifications : this is painful, 
ignoble, and profitless. By avoiding these two extremes, O 
Bhikkhus, the Tathagata has gained the knowledge of the 
middle path, which leads to insight, which leads to wisdom, 
which conduces to calm, to knowledge, to the Sambodhi, to 
Nirvana." 1 

In an interesting dialogue between Buddha and a 
monk who, in his reaction from a life of undue asceti- 
cism, was tempted to adopt the opposite extreme of 
reckless enjoyment, the middle path of moderate as- 
ceticism is compared to a lute which gives forth the 
proper tones only when the strings are neither too 
tight nor too slack. 2 

To secure perfect detachment from the world, 
Buddha adopted for himself and his followers the 

i Mahavagga, i. 6, 17.-6". B. E. XIII. p. 94. 
2 S. B. E. XVII. p. 7. 



The Buddhist Order, Sangha 1 1 1 

quiet, secluded, contemplative life practised by the 
ascetics of his day. Their means of subsistence was 
alms ; hence the name commonly applied to Buddhist 
monks, 1 B/iikkhus, beggars, mendicants. It was for- 
eign to his plan that his followers should engage in 
any works of manual labor or in charitable ministra- 
tions to the unfortunate. The traditional contempt 
of the Brahman for industrial pursuits was largely 
shared by the Buddhist. Then, too, manual labor 
would have been productive of riches, would have 
entangled the aspirant to perfection in worldly cares, 
and enfeebled him for the great business that de- 
manded his undivided attention, the thorough knowl- 
edge and observance of the law. 

In like manner, works of charity, such as the care 
of the sick and destitute, would have been a hin- 
drance to Buddhist perfection. Not indeed that the 
needs of the sick and helpless were utterly ignored. 
Through Buddhist influence, centres were established 
where the suffering could repair for medicine and 
treatment. But these charitable offices were admin- 
istered by laymen, not by monks. Nevertheless, 
there is not in Buddhism that keen sympathy for indi- 
vidual suffering and that corresponding impulse to 
alleviate it for which Christianity is pre-eminently con- 

1 The application of the Christian terms, monks and nuns, to 
members of the Buddhist order is regrettable on account of the con- 
fusion of thought to which it is apt to lead. But having the sanction, 
of modern usage, it cannot well be avoided. 



1 1 2 Buddhism 

spicuous. Buddha's chief concern was to teach men 
to escape the misery of rebirth by the extinction of 
all desire. Hence the tendency to view present suffer- 
ings with indifference. To nurse the sick and minister 
to the needs of the destitute, would have helped to 
confirm the afflicted in their delusive attachment to 
individual existence, the very thing which Buddha 
sought to undo. It would likewise have been too dis- 
tracting. The life which Buddha felt to be alone 
suited to the pursuit of Nirvana was one, not of active 
participation in the world, but of quiet solitude and 
contemplation. In the Tevijja Sutta the conduct of 
the Buddhist monk is contrasted with that of certain 
heretical monks who gain a livelihood " by prescrib- 
ing medicines to produce vomiting or purging, or to 
remove obstructions in the higher or lower intestines, 
or to relieve headache ; by preparing oils for the ear, 
collyriums, catholicons, antimony, and cooling drinks ; 
by practising cautery, midwifery, or the use of root 
decoctions or salves." 1 The only act of beneficence 
which Buddha inculcated on his disciples was to 
preach to others. 

Such are the main characteristics of the religious 
life, if we may call it religious, to which Buddha 
invited his fellow-men. And in thus opening up 
what he felt to be the true path of salvation, he 
made no discrimination of social conditions. Herein 
lay one of the most striking contrasts between the 
1 S. B. E XI. p. 200. 



The Buddhist Order, Sangha 113 

old religion and the new. Brahmanism was founded 
on caste-distinctions. Full participation in its ad- 
vantages belonged to the Brahmans alone. The 
religious privileges accorded to members of the next 
two castes, were of an inferior grade, while Sudras, 
and members of still lower classes, were absolutely 
excluded. 

Buddha, on the contrary, extended the hand of 
welcome to men of low, as well as high, birth and 
station. Virtue, not birth, was declared to be the 
test of superiority. In the brotherhood which he 
built around him, all caste-distinctions were put aside. 
The despised Sudra stood on a footing of perfect 
equality with the high-born Brahman. All were 
brothers ; and if greater esteem attached to some, 
it was owing to their greater zeal in the practice of 
virtue. In this religious democracy of Buddhism 
lay doubtless one of its strongest influences for con- 
version among the lower masses. 

In thus putting his followers, irrespective of birth, 
on a plane of perfect equality, Buddha had no inten- 
tion of acting the part of a social reformer. Not a 
few writers have attributed to him the purpose of 
breaking down caste-distinctions in society, and of 
replacing them by a democratic system which would 
insure a more equitable distribution of privileges. 
This is a mistake. Buddha had no more intention 
of abolishing caste than he did of abolishing mar- 
riage. It was only within the limits of his own order 



1 14 Buddhism 

that he insisted on social equality, as he did on celi- 
bacy. It was not part of his plan to secure the 
amelioration of the less favored classes. Neither 
did his followers anywhere pose as social reformers. 
Wherever Buddhism has prevailed, the caste-system 
has not been abolished. On the contrary, the later 
Buddhist scriptures imply the permanence of castes, 
for it is laid down as a principle that a Buddha is 
never to be born into a family of the peasant or 
servile caste, but only as a warrior or as a Brahman. 1 

Let us now look more closely into the mode of 
life which Buddha prescribed for his followers. 

Before being admitted to the full privileges of the 
Sangha, or order of monks, the members had to pass 
through a period of probation as novices. Although, 
as has been said, men of every station in life could 
present themselves as novices, yet those alone were 
accepted who were free from certain disqualifica- 
tions. Thus, confirmed criminals were debarred, 
men afflicted with serious deformities and diseases, 
debtors, slaves, soldiers whose term of service was 
not yet ended, sons whose parents had not given 
their consent. As a rule, the novice had to be at 
least fifteen years old (from the time of conception), 
but exceptions were sometimes made in favor of 
children only twelve years of age. 2 

1 Cf. Foucaux, Lalita Vistara, p. 21; Warren, Buddhism in Trans- 
lations, p. 41. 

2 S. B. E. XIII. p. 204. 



The Buddhist Order, Sangha 115 

The ceremony of reception was simple. No ab- 
juration of previous religious belief was required. 
Having cut off his hair and beard, and having put 
on the yellow robes peculiar to the order, he squatted 
at the feet of the monks, and, with hands joined above 
his head, recited three times the Buddhist formula of 
faith : " I take my refuge in Buddha, I take my 
refuge in the Law [Dhamma] ; I take my refuge in 
the Order [Sangha]." 1 

He then chose as preceptor a worthy monk of at 
least ten years' standing, and served under him till 
his novitiate was ended. The shortest term of pro- 
bation was four months. 

From the beginning the novice had to observe the 
ten precepts exacted of every Buddhist monk, namely, 
to abstain from destroying every form of life, from 
stealing, from unchaste indulgence, from lying, from 
strong drink, from eating at forbidden times, from 
dancing or singing, from the use of perfumes, oint- 
ments and flowers, from the use of high and broad 
beds, from accepting gold or silver. 2 

The ceremony by which the novice was received 
into full membership was somewhat more solemn. 
Having satisfactorily spent the period of probation, 
and being at least twenty years old, he appeared 
with his preceptor before the assembled monks. 3 

1 s. B. E. XIII. p. 115. 2 Ibid. p. 211. 

3 It was the rule that at least ten monks should assist at the rite 
of ordination, but in remote districts four were declared sufficient. 
S. B. E. XVII. pp. 33 and 38. 



1 1 6 Buddhism 

He adjusted his robe so as to cover one shoulder, 
and, squatting at their feet, with his hands joined over 
his head, recited three times the formula of refuge 
in Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. 

He was then asked the following questions, to 
which a truthful answer had to be given : — 

"Are you afflicted with the following diseases: leprosy, 
boils, dry leprosy, consumption, and fits ? 
" Are you a man ? 
" Are you a male ? 
" Are you a freeman ? 
" Have you no debts? 
" Are you not in the royal service ? 
" Have your father and mother given their consent? 
" Are you full twenty years old ? 
" Are your alms-bowl and your robes in due state ? 
" What is your name ? 
" What is your preceptor's name ? " 1 

If the answers were satisfactory, the preceptor 
turned to his assembled brethren, announced the 
worthiness of the candidate, and then three times 
asked them to show their approval by silence or their 
disapproval by speaking. If, after the third request, 
no objection was raised, the candidate was declared a 
full member of the order. The mode of life to which 
he had to conform was then briefly rehearsed to him, 
and he was reminded of the four great prohibitions, 
whose violation brought expulsion from the order. 
They were (i) to avoid every form of sexual indul- 
1 s. B. E. XIII. p. 230. 



The Buddhist Order, Sangha 117 

gence ; (2) to take nothing but what was given to 
him, not even a blade of grass; (3) not to deprive 
any creature of life, even a worm or an ant ; (4) not 
to boast of any superhuman perfection. 1 

In thus becoming a member of the order, the 
monk did not bind himself by any vows. If after a 
time he came to the conclusion that he was not suited 
to the severe life he had adopted, he was free to 
withdraw from the order and to go back to the world. 
Sometimes after returning to a worldly life, he re- 
pented and again sought admission into the order. 
Such admission was very rarely refused. 

The asceticism which Buddha demanded of his 
followers, while not of extreme rigor, was what we 
should call severe. Each member was allowed but 
one set of garments, which had to be of yellow color 
and of cheap quality. They consisted of a piece of 
cloth encircling the waist and falling below the knees, 
of an upper garment covering the back and breast, 
and of an outer robe. These, together with his 
sleeping-mat, razor, needle, water-strainer, and alms- 
bowl, constituted the sum of his worldly possessions. 
His single meal, which had to be taken before noon, 
consisted chiefly of bread, rice, and curry, which he 
gathered daily in his alms-bowl by begging from door 
to door. Water or rice-milk was his customary drink, 
wine and other intoxicants being rigorously forbid- 
den, even as medicine. Meat, fish, and delicacies 

1 Oldenberg, Op. cit. pp. 346-351. 



1 1 8 Buddhism 

were rarely eaten, except in sickness or when the 
monk dined by invitation with some patron. " What- 
soever Bhikkhu," runs a Vinaya text, " when he is not 
sick, shall request for his own use, and shall partake 
of delicacies, — ghee, butter, oil, honey, molasses, 
fish, flesh, milk, curds, — that is. a Pakittiya " (J. c, an 
offence requiring a penance). 1 

During the day he had to stand or sit upright with 
legs crossed. Only at night could he lie down, but 
not on a high or broad bed. He was forbidden not 
only to use wreaths, ornaments, and perfumes, but 
also to take part in worldly amusements. Among 
the latter were included many that seem innocent 
enough to our degenerate minds, as the following 
interesting passage from the Tevijja Sutta makes 
known : — 

" Whereas some Samana-Brahmans 2 who live on the food 
provided by the faithful, continue addicted to occupying 
their time with games detrimental to their progress in virtue : 
that is to say, with a board of sixty-four squares, or of 
one hundred squares ; tossing up ; hopping over diagrams 
formed on the ground ; removing substances from a heap 
without shaking the remainder ; dicing ; trap-ball ; sketch- 
ing rude figures ; tossing balls ; blowing trumpets ; plough- 
ing matches; tumbling; forming mimic wind-mills ; guessing 
at measures ; chariot races ; archery ; shooting marbles from 
the fingers ; guessing other people's thoughts ; and mimick- 
ing other people's acts ; he, on the other hand, refrains from 
such games detrimental to virtue." 8 

1 S. B. E. XIII. p. 40. 2 Brahman ascetics. 

3 S. B. E. XI. p. 193. 



The Buddhist Order, Sangha 119 

At first, the monks lived in temporary shelters of 
the rudest kind ; for except during the rainy season 
(from the middle of June to the middle of October) 
they were constantly moving from place to place. 
In course of time, parks and gardens were made over 
to them, and there they erected solid and permanent 
clusters of cells. Cloisters were thus formed, called 
vikaras, but the furnishings were of a very simple 
kind. Some of these viharas were provided with 
hot-air baths. 1 

We note with pleasure that Buddhist asceticism 
was characterized by a scrupulous regard for cleanli- 
ness. Dirt and foul smells formed no part of Bud- 
dhist sanctity. Every member of the community was 
expected to bathe once a fortnight, and to keep his 
garments, sleeping-mat, alms-bowl, and cell in neat 
condition. 2 

The life which Buddha felt to be alone suited to 
the pursuit of Nirvana was one, as we have already 
noted, not of active participation in the world, but 
of quiet solitude and contemplation. For this reason, 
his followers, like the Brahman ascetics, were not 
allowed to live in the villages and towns, but only on 
the outskirts. They were not even to visit the towns, 
except in the early morning, when they went in quest 
of alms. 

Contact with worldly life was felt to be a source of 

1 s. B. E. XX. p. 103. 

2 Ibid. XIII. pp. 44, 157-160 ; XX. pp. 295-296. 



1 20 Buddhism 

danger for one who was striving after Buddhist per- 
fection. Hence, in his daily rounds through the vil- 
lage, he had to observe the greatest precaution. " As 
one who has no shoes, walks over thorny ground, 
watchfully picking his steps, so let the wise man walk 
in the village." 1 With sober gait and with eyes 
modestly cast on the ground, he proceeded from door 
to door, holding out his bowl in silence and receiving 
the alms without looking on the face of the giver. 
As soon as his bowl was filled, he made his way back 
to the convent. He was then expected to examine 
his conscience to see if his visit to the village was 
free from blame. 

" A monk, Sariputta," Buddha is reported as saying. 
" must thus reflect : ' On my way to the village, when I was 
going to collect alms, and in the places where I collected 
alms, and on my way back from the village, have I in the 
forms which the eye perceives, the sounds which the ear 
perceives, . . . experienced pleasure, or desire, or hatred, 
or distraction, or anger in my mind? ' If so, then must this 
monk, O Sariputta, endeavor to become free from these evil, 
treacherous emotions. But if the monk, O Sariputta, who 
submits himself to this test finds: ' I have not experienced 
pleasure, or desire, or hatred, or distraction, or anger,' then 
should he be glad and rejoice. Happy the man who has 
long accustomed his mind to good." 2 

Among the seductive influences of the world against 
which the true follower of Buddha had to guard him- 
self with utmost vigilance, was association with women. 

1 Oldenberg, Op. cit. p. 307. 2 Ibid. 



The Buddhist Order, Sangha 121 

He was forbidden to converse alone with a woman, 
however respectable, and all communication with 
women was to be avoided as far as possible. Char- 
acteristic is the advice which Buddha gave Ananda 
on this subject : " How are we to conduct ourselves, 
Lord, with regard to womanhood?" "Don't see 
them, Ananda." " But if we should see them, what are 
we to do? " " Abstain from speech, Ananda." " But 
if they should speak to us, Lord, what are we to do? " 
" Keep wide awake, Ananda." 1 

As a further aid to correctness of conduct, a public 
examination and confession of faults took place every 
fortnight, on the days of the new and full moon. At 
this ceremony, known as the P atimokkha (the unbur- 
dening), all the monks of the locality had to be pres- 
ent. The meeting was held at evening, and the most 
venerable monk of the community presided. Having 
solemnly announced the purpose of the meeting, he 
proceeded to enumerate the various kinds of offences 
which it was the duty of every monk to avoid. This 
list of sins, subject, doubtless, in the beginning to 
constant variations, became in course of time a ster- 
eotyped formula, a sort of liturgical rite, which had 
to be strictly observed. 2 It was divided into several 
classes of offences, beginning with the class of trans- 
gressions that entailed expulsion from the order, and 

1 Book of the Great Decease, v. 23. — 6". B. E. XI. p. 91. Here again 
the Buddhist joins hands with the Brahman. 

2 This Patimokkha formula may be found in the first part of Vol. 
XIII. 6-. B. E. 



1 22 Buddhism 

proceeding to others of less and less consequence. 
After enumerating the sins comprised in each class, 
the presiding monk put three times to the assembly 
this question : " Venerable Sirs, are you pure in this 
matter? " If no one spoke, it was understood that all 
present were guiltless. If a monk confessed himself 
guilty of some one of the offences enumerated, a pen- 
alty proportionate to the seriousness of the offence 
was laid upon him. 

Such was the Patimokkha in its original form. But 
later on, the confession of faults was exacted of the 
monk outside the Patimokkha. A monk, guilty of 
some offence, was expected to confess it to a brother 
monk that very day, and to receive the fitting pen- 
ance. Every day's delay in confessing increased his 
guilt and called for a greater penance. It was only 
after thus unburdening his conscience by private 
confession of guilt, that he had the right to be present 
at the Patimokkha. 1 

It is to be remarked that the Buddhist confession 
had nothing of a sacramental character. Again, 
only external offences had to be confessed, and of 
these the majority were infringements of community 
rules. 

Another ceremony having a similar end in view 

was the public accusation of faults known as the Pa- 

varana (invitation). During a period of three months, 

beginning with June or July, — the rainy season, called 

i Ct. S. B. E. XX. p. 409. 



The Buddhist Order, Sangria 123 

Vassa, — the monks were forbidden to travel, and had 
to reside together at their various monasteries, spend- 
ing the time in quiet contemplation. At the end of 
this period, before setting out again on their wander- 
ings, the monks met in solemn assembly, and each 
one in turn, raising his clasped hands, asked to be 
reminded of any faults of his committed during the 
rainy season that his fellow-monks had observed. 
" Reverend Sirs," the formula ran, " I invite the or- 
der, if ye have seen anything on my part, or have 
heard anything, or have any suspicion about me, have 
pity on me, Reverend Sirs, and speak. If I see it, I 
shall atone for it." l 

This necessity of making known and atoning for 
external offences was, doubtless, of great efficacy in 
securing that observance of outward decorum which 
Buddha demanded of his followers. 

But mere outward observance of the rules of the 
order was not enough. To enable the members to 
assimilate the true spirit of the order, to advance in- 
teriorly towards the perfection of Nirvana, the practice 
of profound meditation was enjoined. This practice 

— the counterpart of the yoga of the Brahman ascetic 

— was adopted by the monks with very unequal de- 
grees of success. One of the surest marks of perfec- 
tion and of ripeness for entering into Nirvana was the 
aptitude for sinking one's self into abstract meditation, 
in which the monk, regardless of everything about 

1 Oldenberg, Op. cit. pp. 374-375. Cf. S. B. E. XIII. p. 329. 



1 24 Buddhism 

him, concentrated his mind on the unconditioned 
state of Nirvana. There were certain rules for bring- 
ing on this meditative condition of soul. Selecting 
some quiet spot, the monk would sit with crossed 
legs, erect and motionless, dwelling on more and more 
abstract subjects, till often he sank into a trance. In 
this morbid state, various hallucinations, mistaken for 
realities, would affect his mind. He saw heavenly 
visions and heard heavenly sounds. He peered into 
the remote past and future, saw what was happen- 
ing in distant places, and read the thoughts of 
others. 

As we have seen, the object of Buddha's monastic 
system was to lead men to a state of perfection which 
at death would secure their entrance into Nirvana. 
But not all the members of his order attained in their 
lifetime to this ideal state of perfection. Only some 
of them succeeded in becoming arhats, i. e., perfect 
ones, free from all rebirth and destined at death to 
enter into Nirvana. Others attained to a degree of 
holiness which destined them to a new life with the 
gods in heaven, to end by absorption into Nirvana. 
Others were destined to reach the desired goal only 
after another life on earth. 1 But the more worldly 
monks were under the necessity of being reborn 
a number of times before they could hope to acquire 
perfection. The Buddhist records show that worldly, 
even vicious, monks were by no means uncommon, 
1 S. B. E. XI. pp. 25-26. 



The Buddhist Order, Sangha 125 

and that the peace of the community was often dis- 
turbed by them. 1 

It seems to have been Buddha's original intention 
to confine his monastic system to men. But, yielding 
to entreaties, he established a supplementary order of 
nuns (Bhikkhunis). These communities of nuns, 
while living in the vicinity of the monks, were 
entirely separated from them. The strictest rules 
regulated the relations of the one with the other. 
A monk was forbidden to converse alone with a 
nun ; they could not travel together. Only the 
monk especially appointed for the purpose could 
preach to them, and then it was not in their place 
of habitation, but in the neighborhood of the mon- 
astery, where the presence of a second monk was 
required. 

The status of the nun was much inferior in dignity 
to that of the monk. " A Bhikkhuni," runs one of 
their eight rules, " even if of a hundred years' stand- 
ing, shall make a salutation to, shall rise up in the 
presence of, shall bow down before, and shall perform 
all proper duties towards, a Bhikkhu, if only just 
initiated. This is a rule to be revered and rever- 
enced, honored and observed, and during her long 
life never to be transgressed." 2 



1 These disturbers of the peace were generally designated as the 
Khabbaggiya Bhikkhus, Cf. S. B. E. XVII. pp. 343-344, 347 ff.; XX. 
pp. 147, 296. 

2 S. B. E. XX. pp. 322-^23. 



126 Buddhism 

A nun was never allowed to reprove a monk for 
any misdemeanor, while the monk had always the 
right to admonish an erring nun. 

They had to conform to the same rule of life as 
that prescribed for monks, living on alms, and lead- 
ing a life of retirement and contemplation. They 
were never so numerous as the monks, and became 
a very insignificant fraction of the Sangha as time 
went on. 

Strictly speaking, Buddha's order was composed 
only of those who had renounced the world and given 
proof of their purpose to live a life of contemplation 
as monks and nuns. But the very character of their 
life made them dependent for their subsistence on the 
charity of men and women who preferred to live in 
the world and to enjoy the comforts of the household 
state. Those who thus sympathized with the order 
and helped to contribute to its support, formed the 
lay element in Buddhism. These lay associates were 
called iipasakas, if men, and upasikas, if women. 
Not being monks or nuns, they could not hope to 
attain to Nirvana at the end of the present life. But 
through their association with the order, and their 
acts of beneficence to it, they could ensure for them- 
selves a happy rebirth in the traditional swarga or 
heaven, with the additional prospect of being able 
at some future birth to attain to Nirvana if they so 
desired. The majority, however, did not share the 
enthusiasm of the Buddhist arhat for Nirvana, being 



The Buddhist Order, Sangha 127 

quite content to look forward to a life of positive, 
though impermanent, delights in heaven. 1 

To become a upasaka, no rite of initiation was re- 
quired beyond the simple declaration before a monk 
of refuge in Buddha, the Law, and the Order. There 
was no obligation of renouncing the various popular 
forms of worship. To contribute to the support of 
the order was their chief duty and their privilege as 
well. They supplied the monks and nuns with food, 
clothing, and medicine. They vied with one another 
in having the monks dine with them at their homes. 
The more wealthy donated parks, and stood the 
expense of building suitable cloisters. In return, 
the monks gladdened them with religious discourses 
and assured them of abundant rewards for their 
beneficence. 

" Whatsoever woman upright in life, a disciple of the 
Happy One, gives, glad at heart and overcoming avarice, 
both food and drink — ■ a heavenly life does she obtain ; 
entering on the path that is free from corruption and im- 
purity, aiming at good, happy does she become and free from 
sickness, and long does she rejoice in a heavenly body." 2 

These lay brethren were exhorted to observe 
chastity in keeping with their state of life, to avoid 

1 This accounts for the frequent reference to heaven, and the 
apparent ignoring of Nirvana in the inscriptions of Asoka, a fact 
wrongly taken by Senart to imply that the speculations on Nirvana 
were unknown in Asoka's clay. Cf. Les Inscriptions de Piyadasi, II. 

P- 3 2 3- 

s Mahavagga, viii. 15, 14. — S. B. E. XVII. p. 225. 



128 Buddhism 

lying, stealing, the use of intoxicants, and the taking 
of life, even that of animals. But failure to conform 
to these precepts of moral conduct did not, except 
in very flagrant instances, prevent them from enjoy- 
ing friendly relations with the order. But it was 
otherwise with those who reviled and slandered the 
monks or their revered founder, or who openly re- 
jected any point of Buddha's teaching. They were 
cut off from all association with the monks. Their 
invitations to dine out were refused, and the alms- 
bowl was turned down in their presence. But if they 
apologized for their offensive conduct, they were re- 
instated in the good-will of the order. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE HISTORY OF BUDDHISM 

Religious Developments — The existence of the Brahman gods 
recognized in primitive Buddhism, but man's dependence on 
them denied — Hence no rites of worship — Devotion to the 
gods tolerated in the Buddhist layman — Rise of religious rites 
after Buddha's death — Veneration of his relics, stupas, and 
statues : pilgrimages, processions, and festivals — Worship of the 
Buddha to come, Metteyya — Divinization of Gotama Buddha as 
the Adi-Buddha — The Bodhisattvas — Mahayanaand Hinayana — ■ 
The Growth of Buddhism — The dubious councils of Rajagriha 
and Vaisali — Asoka — His rock-inscriptions — His zeal for Bud- 
dhism — Unreliable traditions, especially concerning Mahinda and 
the council of Patna — The introduction of Buddhism into Ceylon 

— The evangelization of Kashmir, Gandhara, and Bactria — 
King Menander — King Kanishka — The council of Kashmir — 
The introduction of Buddhism into China — Chinese pilgrims : Fa 
Hien and Hiouen Thsang — The character of Chinese Buddhism 

— Mito and Fousa Kwanyin — The introduction of Buddhism 
into Tibet — The character of Lamaism — Resemblances to cer- 
tain features of Catholicism — The spread of Buddhism over 
Southern Asia — The decline of Buddhism in India — The number 
of Buddhists greatly exaggerated. 

IT may appear strange that in our survey of Bud- 
dhism no account has been taken of religious duties 
and practices. But the fact is that religious duties, 
in the strict sense, form no part of Buddha's teaching. 
For the attainment of Nirvana, religious rites were 

9 



130 Buddhism 

accounted of no avail, just as in pantheistic Brahman- 
ism they were held to be useless for securing absorp- 
tion into Brahman. But while the pantheist clung to 
the Vedas, and insisted on the necessity of Vedic 
worship as a preparation for the higher religion, 
Buddha, with greater consistency, rejected both the 
Vedas and the Vedic rites. 

Buddha was not an atheist in the sense that he 
denied the existence of the gods. Nor can he be 
called an agnostic. To him the gods were living 
realities. In his alleged sayings, as in the Buddhist 
scriptures generally, the gods are often mentioned 
and always with respect. 1 But like the pantheistic 
Brahman, he did not acknowledge his dependence on 
them. They were held to be subject like men to 
karma and rebirth. The god of to-day might be 
reborn in the future in some inferior condition, while 
a man of virtuous conduct might succeed in raising 
himself in his next birth to the rank of a god in 
heaven. The very gods, then, no less than men, had 
need of that perfect wisdom that leads to Nirvana, and 
hence it was idle to pray or sacrifice to them in the hope 
of obtaining the boon which they themselves did not 
possess. They were even inferior to Buddha, since he 
had already attained to Nirvana. In like manner, 
they who followed in Buddha's footsteps had no need 
of worshipping the gods by prayers and offerings. 

1 One of the names of the famous Buddhist king, Asoka, was 
Devanampiya fdear to the gods). 



History of Buddhism 131 

On the other hand, much as Buddha felt himself 
above the need of Brahman rites, he looked with 
indifference, if not with complacency, on the worship 
of the gods by those who still clung to the delusion 
of individual existence, and preferred the household 
to the homeless state. For souls like these, gifts to 
the gods were after all not whoHy in vain, since it lay 
in the power of the grateful deities to confer benefits 
in return. This view finds expression in the seem- 
ingly incongruous words that Buddha is said to have 
addressed to two high officials of Magadha: — 

" Wheresoe'er the prudent man shall take up his abode, 
Let him support there good and upright men of self-control. 
Let him give gifts to all such deities as may be there. 
Revered, they will revere him ; honored, they will honor him 

again ; 
Are gracious to him, as a mother to her one, her only son. 
And the man who has the grace of the gods, good fortune 

he beholds." ] 

Bloody sacrifices were abominated by Buddha 
because they involved the killing of living things ; 
but how far he was from setting himself in bitter 
antagonism to other features of Brahman worship, is 
shown by the benediction he pronounced on Keniya, 
the Brahman ascetic, in which he praises the tran- 
scendent excellence of his own religion without dis- 
paraging that of his host. 

1 Book of the Great Decease, i. 31. — S. B. E. XI. p. 20. 



132 Buddhism 

" Of the offerings, the fire sacrifice is the chief, of sacred 

verses, the chief is the Savitthi ; ' 
" Among men the king is chief, and of waters the ocean ; 
Of constellations the moon is chief, and of heat-givers the 

sun ; 
But of them, the conquering ones, who long after good, 

the Sangha verily is chief." 2 

But while worship of the gods was tolerated in the 
Buddhist layman, it was not inculcated as a duty. 
It was rather discouraged indirectly by the inferior 
degree to which it was assigned in the scale of meri- 
torious works. Virtuous conduct and loyal devotion 
to the Sangha, were taught to be of incomparably 
greater value than religious rites. 

" If a man for a hundred years sacrifice month after 
month with a thousand, and if he but for one moment pay 
homage to a man whose soul is grounded [in true know- 
ledge], better is that homage, than a sacrifice for a hundred 
years." 8 

Benefits derived from the worship of the gods 
were at best but fleeting. They were not to be 
esteemed by the monks and nuns, who set their hearts 
on Nirvana. 

This lack of all religious rites in the order was not 
keenly felt in the presence of their venerable founder. 
Their intense devotion to him took the place of 
religious fervor. But he was not long dead when 

1 Pali form of Sanskrit word Savitri. 

2 Mahavagga, vi. 35, 8. — S. B. E. XVII. p. 134. 

3 Dhammapada, 106. 



History of Buddhism 133 

this very devotion to Buddha began to assume the 
form of religious worship. His reputed relics, con- 
sisting of his bones, teeth, alms-bowl, cremation- 
vessel, and ashes from the funeral pyre, found their 
way to the chief cities of India, and, being enclosed 
in dome-shaped mounds, called dagobas, chaityas, 
topes, or stupas, were honored with offerings of 
lights, flowers, and perfumes. This was represented 
to be in accordance with a provision of Buddha 
himself. 

" At the four cross-roads, a dagoba should be erected to 
the Tathagata. And whosoever shall there place garlands, 
or perfumes, or paint, or make a salutation there, or become 
in its presence calm in heart, that shall long be to them a 
profit and a joy." 1 

Likewise, the places of his birth, supreme enlight- 
enment, first preaching, and death were accounted 
especially sacred, and became the objects of pious 
pilgrimages, and the occasion of recurring festivals. 
To give these rites a greater dignity and importance, 
the dying Buddha is alleged to have been himself 
their author. It is he who reminds Ananda of the 
four places to be visited with feelings of reverence 
and awe, and says : — 

" And there will come, Ananda, to such spots, believers, 
brethren and sisters of the order, devout men and devout 
women, and will say, ' Here was the Tathagata born,' or, 

1 Book of the Great Decease, v. 26. 



134 Buddhism 

' Here did the Tathagata attain to the supreme and perfect 
insight,' or, ' Here was the Kingdom of righteousness set on 
foot by the Tathagata,' or, ' Here the Tathagata passed away 
in that utter passing away which leaves nothing whatever to 
remain behind.' 

" And they, Ananda, who shall die while they with be- 
lieving heart are journeying on such pilgrimage, shall be 
reborn after death, when the body shall resolve, in the 
happy realms of heaven." 1 

Of these places of pilgrimage, the most sacred 
and the most popular was the spot where he attained 
to perfect enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree. This 
tree, a pipala or variety of the fig-tree, became the 
object of extravagant veneration. 

Besides these, pictures and statues of Buddha 
came into vogue, and were multiplied on every side. 
Offerings were made to them of lights, flowers, and 
perfumes. Festivals were instituted at which statues 
of Buddha were carried about in solemn procession. 2 

But the craving for religious worship was not yet 
satisfied. Buddha, having entered into Nirvana, 
could not be conscious of the religious honors that 
were heaped upon him. The need was felt of a 
living personality worthy of religious veneration, 
and at the same time sensible of the honors paid to 

1 Book of the Great Decease, v. 16-22. 

2 The fifth Gimar edict of Asoka refers to religious processions. 
Cf. Senart, Les Inscriptions de Piyadasi, I. p. 113. A very good 
account of Buddha's relics and other objects of veneration is given 
by K. F. Koppen, Die Religion des Buddha, I. pp. 516 ff. 



History of Buddhism 135 

him. Such a personality was brought to light by 
the later speculations of Buddhist monks. This was 
Metteyya, 1 the loving one, now living happily as a 
Bodhisattva in heaven, but destined in the remote 
future to become a Buddha, and again to set in 
motion the wheel of the law. For the religion 
founded by Gotama Buddha was not destined to 
persist for all time. In this world-age, three Buddhas 
had preceded him at long intervals of time, and the 
teachings of each had after a while utterly vanished 
from the minds of men. So in like manner his 
order was destined to last only five hundred years. 2 
Then would ensue a long reign of darkness and 
ignorance till Metteyya, the fifth and last Buddha, 
would appear and renew the work of salvation. To 
this Metteyya in heaven, the Buddhists turned as 
the living object of worship of which they had so 
long felt the need, and they paid him religious 
homage as the future saviour of the world. 

Such was the character of the religious worship 
observed by those who departed the least from 
Buddha's teachings. It is what we find to-day in 
the so-called Southern Buddhism, as held by the in- 
habitants of Ceylon, Burma, and Siam. 

But even devotion to the Bodhisattva Metteyya 

1 Sanskrit, Maitreya. 

2 It would have lasted a thousand years, had not the disciples 
prevailed upon Buddha to admit women to membership in the 
order. Chullavagga, x. I, 6. — S. B. E. XX. p. 325. 



136 Buddhism 

failed in the long run to give satisfaction to the 
majority of Buddhist believers. The idea of Brah- 
man, the eternal lord of gods and men, came to be 
transferred to Buddha himself. To reconcile the 
contradiction between this conception and the Buddha 
of tradition, the latter, Sakyamuni, was declared to 
be an incarnation of the eternal and unchanging 
Buddha, later known as Adi-Buddha, — dwelling in 
the highest heaven. Around this supreme Buddha 
were grouped a countless number of Bodhisattvas, 
destined in future ages to become human Buddhas 
for the sake of erring man. To raise oneself to the 
rank of Bodhisattva by virtuous and meritorious works 
was the ideal now held out to generous souls. In- 
stead of Nirvana, Sukhavati became the object of 
religious hope, the heaven of sensuous delights, 
where Amitabha, 1 an emanation of the eternal 
Buddha, happily reigned. For the attainment of 
this end, the necessity of virtuous conduct was not 
altogether forgotten, but an extravagant importance 
was attached to the worship of relics and statues, to 
pilgrimages, and above all to the reciting of sacred 
names and magic formulae. Many other gross forms 
of Hindu superstition were also adopted. 

This innovation, so utterly foreign to the teaching 
of Buddha, took its rise in Northern India about the 
first century B. C. It was known as the Mahayana 

1 The Buddhist substitute for Yama, the lord of the Brahman 
paradise. 



^ 



History of Buddhism 137 

or Great Vehicle, in distinction from the earlier form 
of Buddhism contemptuously styled the Hinayana 
or Little Vehicle. 1 

The new movement grew apace, and in the next 
few centuries supplanted the older Buddhism in 
Northern India, Kashmir, and Bactria. The Buddhist 
order thus became separated into two great schisms, 
the Mahayana or Buddhism of the North, and the 
Hinayana or Buddhism of the South. 

It was this Northern Buddhism that was propa- 
gated in China, Japan, Tartary, and Tibet, the very 
countries that furnish to-day the overwhelming ma- 
jority of Buddhists. But they are Buddhists in name 
only, adhering to forms of religious belief and practice 
in open contradiction to what Buddha took pains to 
inculcate. It is only by the few millions of Southern 
Buddhists that primitive Buddhism has been even 
fairly preserved. 

For more than two centuries after the death of 
Buddha, nothing positive is known of the history of 
the religion that he founded. The later Buddhist 
scriptures tell how a council of five hundred monks 
was held at Rajagriha in the summer following Bud- 
dha's death, to give a fixed and authoritative expres- 
sion to his dogmatic and disciplinary teachings; also 
how, a century later, another council of seven hundred 

1 According to some, it was called the Great Vehicle because it 
opened up the highest salvation to laymen as well as to monks, 
whereas the Little Vehicle held out Nirvana to monks alone. 



138 Buddhism 

monks convened at Vaisali, to suppress the lax inno- 
vations that threatened the integrity of Buddhist dis- 
cipline. But the historical character of these accounts 
as found in the last two chapters of the Chullavagga 
and elsewhere is called in question by many. 1 

That Buddha's order must have grown rapidly and 
soon become conspicuous in Northern India is very 
likely ; for in the third century B.C., we find it in a 
flourishing condition, enjoying the patronage of 
those in power. The fact that Buddha came himself 
from the caste of warriors, and the welcome extended 
in his system to men of every rank, must have helped 
in no small measure to win for the new religion the 
good-will of rulers, whose inferior origin debarred 
them from Brahman privileges. Political influence 
has been set down as one of the important factors in 
the spread of Buddhism in India. 

The first reliable evidence we have of the growth 
of Buddhism, is that offered by the inscriptions of King 
Asoka. 2 He was the grandson of Chandragupta 
(Sandrokottos), who, after the death of Alexander 
the Great, successfully resisted the encroachments 

1 Cf. de la Saussaye, Reli^ionsgeschichte, § S4. J. H. C. Kern, Der 
Buddhisnius und seine Geschichte in Indien, II. pp. 2SS ff. 

2 The most complete and reliable account of Asoka and his in- 
scriptions is to be found in Senart's monumental work in two volumes, 
Les Inscriptions dc Piyadasi. Cf. also his interesting article, Un roi 
de PInde au III siecle avant notre ere ; Asoka et le bouddhisme. Rev, 
des deux Mondes, 1889, I. pp. 67 ff. A translation of Senart's In> 
scriptions may be found in the Indian Antiquary, vols. IX., X 
XVII.. and XXI. 



History of Buddhism 139 

of the Greeks, and founded a vast empire in 
Northern India. Asoka mounted the throne about 
273 B.C. 1 and enlarged the empire by new conquests. 
But softened by the frightful havoc of war, he be- 
came converted to Buddhism in about the thirteenth 
year of his reign, and setting himself against all 
thought of future conquest, devoted his energies to 
the promotion of the welfare of his subjects. His 
dominion embraced all of India as far south as 
Mysore, and extended north as far as the Kabul 
valley. His reign lasted thirty years or more. 2 

In the interest of the religion he had adopted, 
Asoka published a number of interesting edicts, 
which have fortunately been preserved to our day. 
They were engraved on the faces of huge rocks and 
on stone pillars, the same edict being published in 
different parts of the empire. Several duplicate sets 
of inscriptions have thus far been found. Of these 
the most important are the fourteen rock-inscriptions 
existing in a partially defaced condition, at Mansehra 
on the Afghan frontier, at Kapur di Giri in the upper 
valley of the Indus, at Girnar in the Gujerat penin- 
sula, at Khalsi near the source of the Jumna, and 
at Dhauli and Jaugada in Orissa. At the last two 
places, edicts XI., XII., and XIII. are wanting, but 
in their stead are two other important ones known as 
the first and second separate edicts of Dhauli. 

1 Senart, Op. cit. II. p. 257. 

2 The eighth Delhi edict is dated from the 28th year of his conse- 
cration as king. 



140 Buddhism 

Besides these, there is the edict of Bhabra, engraved 
on a small granite rock now preserved in Calcutta ; 
the rock-edict common to Rupnath, Sahasaram, Bairat, 
and Mysore; and eight column-edicts found at Delhi, 
Allahabad, Mathiah, Radhiah, and the Nepalese 
Tarai. 

In these inscriptions, the king, styling himself now 
Piyadasi (the Benevolent), now Devanampiya (Dear 
to the gods) shows himself to be a convert to Bud- 
dhism, devout and zealous. Indeed, in the Bhabra 
edict, he acts as if he were the authoritative head of 
the Buddhist order, for he enjoins on the clergy of 
Magadha the frequent rehearsing to both monks and 
laymen of certain sacred compositions, which he 
enumerates. He tells of his zeal in sending out 
missionaries to make known to men the law of kind- 
ness to all living creatures, and boasts of its obser- 
vance in the realms of Antiochus, Ptolemy, Antigonus, 
Magas, and Alexander. While interdicting bloody 
sacrifices, he displays a tolerant and kindly spirit 
towards Brahman and other heretical sects. He 
recommends to every sect the spirit of forbearance 
and generous emulation in the teaching and practice 
of virtue. It is in virtuous conduct that he finds re- 
ligion chiefly to consist, inculcating docile obedience 
to parents, masters, and all other superiors, respect 
for the aged, almsgiving to Brahmans and monks, 
compassion for the destitute, kind treatment of ser- 
vants and slaves, a merciful regard for animal life, 



History of Buddhism 141 

gentleness, purity, and truthfulness. He sets a good 
example himself by dealing with his subjects as a 
tender-hearted father to his children. He bestows 
alms generously on Brahmans and monks of every sect. 
He appoints inspectors to promote the welfare of the 
people by suppressing all forms of injustice, especially 
arbitrary imprisonment and torture. He ordains for 
criminals condemned to death a respite of three days, 
that they may have the opportunity of preparing for 
a better future by almsgiving and fasting. He pro- 
vides for the importation and cultivation of plants and 
trees useful for man and beast, especially medicinal 
herbs, and sees that the highways are properly fur- 
nished with watering places. While abolishing the 
use of animal food at his own table, he puts restric- 
tions on the slaughter of animals for the market, and 
absolutely prohibits the religious sacrifice of bird or 
beast. Not unsuitably has he been called the Con- 
stantine of Buddhism. 

The silence of these monuments throws grave doubt 
on much that is told of Asoka in the traditions em- 
bodied in the Mahavansa, a Ceylonese chronicle of 
the fifth century. Here we read that Asoka, con- 
verted by a miracle to Buddhism, built 84,000 stupas 
throughout his realm ; also that, under the direction 
of the monk Tissa, a great council was held at Patna, 
in which the canonical books were definitely recog- 
nized. This council, as we shall see in the following 
chapter, is most likely a mere fable. 



142 Buddhism 

In like manner, the story that Asoka's son Mahinda 
became a monk, and having gone as a missionary to 
distant Ceylon, converted to Buddhism both king and 
people ; and that Sanghamitta, Asoka's daughter, 
who had likewise renounced the world, introduced 
into the newly converted country the Buddhist order 
of nuns, is not without grave suspicion of being a 
pious invention of the Ceylonese clergy, prompted by 
feelings of local pride. 

This much is doubtless true, that Buddhist mission- 
aries, inspired by Asoka, carried the knowledge of 
their religion into Ceylon. For it is largely due to 
the impetus given to the growth of Buddhism by the 
king, that the name of Buddha was made known to 
the surrounding nations. At any rate we find Bud- 
dhism flourishing in Ceylon about 150 B.C. under the 
Buddhist king Duttha Gamini. He built for the 
order a large monastery and two magnificent stupas. 
Buddhism has ever since been the prevailing religion 
in Ceylon. 

The Mahavansa tells of other missionary enter- 
prises successfully carried out under the auspices of 
Asoka. Besides the conversion of the extreme north- 
ern and western peoples of India, missionaries were 
sent to evangelize Kashmir, Gandhara (Kandahar), 
and the so-called Yavana country, identified by most 
scholars with the Greek settlements in the Kabul 
valley and vicinity, later known as Bactria. 1 

1 Tumour — Ma/iawanso, p. 71. 



History of Buddhism 143 

In these parts, Buddhism quickly took root and 
flourished, especially under the Yavana or Greek 
King Menander, who held sway about 1 50 B.C. over 
a large empire comprising Bactria, Kabul, and the 
northwest portion of India. Being himself a convert 
to Buddhism, he did much to promote the welfare of 
the order. He figures prominently in Buddhist tra- 
dition as the royal patron of orthodoxy. 1 

More important still for the history of Buddhism in 
the northern countries, is the reign of Kanishka, or, 
as he is called on his coins, Kanerkes. A successor 
of the Scythian conquerors who had overthrown the 
Greek kingdoms of Parthia and Bactria, Kanishka ex- 
tended his empire by a series of conquests till it 
embraced all of Northern India, as well as Kashmir, 
Kabul, the Bactrian country to the north. The time 
of his reign was formerly a matter of conjecture, most 
scholars contenting themselves with the estimate of 
Lassen, that it embraced a period of thirty years or 
more, beginning about 10 A.D. But the correctness 
of this view was called in question when the accumu- 
lating evidence of Indian archaeology pointed to the 
reign at that very time in Northern India of a Par- 
thian King Gondophares. In 1880, James Fergusson 
published an essay in \he Journal of the Royal Asiatic 
Society on the " Saka, Samvat, and Gupta Eras," in 
which he advocated the view that Kanishka established 
the Saka empire in India in 78 A.D. This view has 

1 Cf. Questions of King Milinda, S. B, E. XXXV. and XXXVI. 



144 Buddhism 

been fully confirmed by numismatic evidence, and is 
now accepted by the majority of scholars. 1 

Kanishka was an ardent Buddhist and did much for 
the prosperity of the religion he professed. It was 
under his auspices that a great council of monks was 
convened in Kashmir about IOO A.D., 2 at which three 
commentaries were drawn upon the threefold canon, 
the Tri-pitJiaka. The tradition that this council 
definitely fixed the canon of Sanskrit Scriptures rec- 
ognized in the Northern school of Buddhism, is, how- 
ever, untenable ; for a number of books belonging to 
the Northern canon are undoubtedly later than this 
date. 

That this council should be unknown to the South- 
ern Buddhist school is not remarkable. It was held 
primarily at least for the benefit of Buddhism within 
Kanishka's empire; and in view of his recent con- 
quests, it is hardly to be supposed that Buddhists 
elsewhere were invited to take part in it. It is not 
unlikely that this very conquest of Northern India 
by Kanishka was the occasion of that separation of 
the Buddhists of his empire from the members of the 
order throughout the rest of India, whereby the 
former, being soon won over to the Mahayana inno- 

1 Cf. Percy Gardner, The Coins of the Greek and Scythic Kings of 
Bactria and India in the British Museum, p. li. — Silbernage], Der 
Buddhismus, p. 50. — Barth, Rev. Hist. Rel. XXXVIII. p. 247.— 
Kern, Der Buddhismus und seine Geschichte in Indien, II. pp- 448 ff. 

2 Kern, Op. cit. II., 449. — de la Saussaye, Religionsgeschichte, II. 
p. 106. 



History of Buddhism 145 

vations, grew up into the so-called Northern school, 
with a literature and with traditions partly common to 
those of the South, and partly peculiar to themselves. 1 

Meanwhile missionary zeal was carrying the knowl- 
edge of Buddha into the distant land of China. 2 In 
the year 61 A. D., the emperor Ming-ti sent a delega- 
tion to India to procure Buddhist books and Buddhist 
teachers. After six years the embassy returned with 
books, pictures, and relics, in company with two Bud- 
dhist monks. The new religion was officially recog- 
nized, and given a place of honor by the side of 
Confucianism and Taoism. In the following cen- 
tury, conversions began to multiply, and more monks 
came from the far west to China to carry on the work 
of zeal. Prominent among these was the Parthian 
monk An-tsing (An-shikao), who arrived at the 
Chinese capital about 150 A.D., bringing with him 
sacred books which he translated into Chinese. 3 

The religious communications between China and 
India became very close during the next few cen- 
turies. Not only did Buddhist missionaries from 
India labor ir China, but many Chinese monks 
showed their zeal for the newly adopted religion, by 
making pilgrimages to India to visit the holy places, 
and to bring back to their country sacred books, 
relics, statues, and pictures. 

1 Vide infra, p. 2 1 3. 

2 Silbernagel, Op. cit. pp. 119 ff. — de la Saussaye, Op. cit. § 86. 
8 Ci.Journ. Roy. As. Soc. 1856, p. 327. 

10 



146 Buddhism 

A few of them wrote valuable accounts, still extant, 
of what they saw and heard in their travels. Of 
these pilgrims the most noted are Fa Hien, who 
journeyed in India and Ceylon in the years 399-414 
A. D., and Hiouen Thsang, who travelled extensively 
in India two centuries later (629-645 A. D.). 1 

The form of Buddhism first introduced into China 
was the early traditional type, now represented ex- 
clusively by Southern Buddhism, but still prevalent 
in the first century of the Christian era in the North- 
ern empire of Kanishka. But the absorption of the 
latter by the Mahayana movement, gave occasion for 
a corresponding change in the Buddhism of China. 
The later missionaries, being in great majority from 
Northern India, brought with them the new doctrine, 
and in a short time, the Hinayana was abandoned in 
China in favor of Northern Buddhism. 

Two of the Bodhisattvas held in high honor in the 
latter school especially commended themselves to 
the Chinese, and became the favorite objects of 
worship. One was Amitabha, the lord of the Suk- 
havati paradise. The other was Avalokitesvara, the 

1 Cf. James Legge, A Record of Buddhist Kingdoms, Being an Ac- 
count of the Chinese Monk Fa Hien, of his Travels in India and Cey- 
lon. Oxford, 1886. — S. Bea.\,,Bz/ddhisl Records of the Western World. 
2 vols. Lond. 1884. This work contains the narratives of Fa Hien 
and Hiouen Thsang, and also describes the journeys of two other 
pilgrims, Sung Yun and I-Tsing. J. Takakusu, a Japanese pupil of 
Max Miiller, has published I-Tsing's narrative under the title, A 
Record of the Buddhist Religion as practised in India and the Malay 
Archipelago, by I-Tsing. Oxford, 1896. 



History of Buddhism 147 

Bodhisattva so extravagantly praised, in the Lotus 
of the True Law, 1 as ready to extricate from every 
sort of danger and misfortune those who think of 
him or cherish his name. The former is known 
to the Chinese as Amita or Mito. Offerings of 
flowers and incense made before his statues, and 
the frequent repetition of his name, are believed 
to insure a rebirth in his distant western paradise, 
where delights of mind and sense are to be enjoyed 
unceasingly. 

Fousa Kwanyin is the name under which the Chi- 
nese worship Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, now as a 
male deity, now as the goddess of mercy, who comes 
to the relief of men in every strait. 

An excessive devotion to statues and relics, the 
employment of magic arts to keep off evil spirits, and 
the observance of many of the gross superstitions of 
Taoism, complete the picture of Buddhism in China, 
so utterly unlike the system which Buddha taught 
to men. 

From China, Buddhism was introduced into Corea 
in the fourth century. Two centuries later, missiona- 
ries from Corea made it known in Japan. In both 
these countries local superstitions were incorporated 
into the new religion, but in its main features it 
preserved its identity with the Buddhism of China. 
Annam was also evangelized by Chinese Buddhists at 
an early day. 

1 Ch. xxiv. 



148 Buddhism 

The introduction of Buddhism into Tibet 1 dates 
from the seventh century. Influenced by his two 
Buddhist wives, one a Nepalese, the other a Chinese, 
princess, the king of Tibet, Srong-tsan Sgam-po, 
whose life covers the first half of the seventh century, 
invited Buddhist monks from Northern India to 
preach their religion in his kingdom. It was not till 
the ninth century, however, that Buddhism in Tibet 
began to thrive. 2 Monks from India devoted them- 
selves to the translation of the sacred books, and 
monasteries arose to meet the needs of the increasing 
native clergy. Persecutions broke out, and several 
times the religion was in danger of extermination. 
But it perseveringly struggled against opposition, and 
in the thirteenth century was the prevailing religion 
of the land. 

In the middle of the thirteenth century, the Mon- 
gols conquered Tibet. The royal family was dis- 
persed, and in 1260 the head lama, a monk of the 
great Sakja monastery, was raised by Kublai Khan, 
who also professed Buddhism, to the position of spir- 
itual and temporal ruler. To this action of Kublai 
Khan, and to the reforms in discipline and liturgy, 
made by the famous Tsong Khaba, in the beginning 

1 Silbernagel, Op. cit. pp. 154 ff. — de la Saussaye, Op. cit. § 85. 

2 Rockhill (Life of the Buddha, p. 221) gives evidence that in the 
middle of the eighth century Tibet was hardly recognized as a Bud- 
dhist country. Most of the Tibetan translations of Buddhist works 
date from the ninth and following centuries. Ibid. p. 2T4 — Cf. Burn- 
ouf, Introduction a IHistoire du Bouddhisme Indien, pp. 577-578. — 
Weber, History of Indian Literature, p. 294. 



History of Buddhism 149 

of the fifteenth century, Lamaism, as Tibetan Bud- 
dhism is called, owes many of its peculiarities. 

Lamaism is based on the Northern Buddhisrr 
of the Middle Ages, which was a degraded form of 
the Mahayana teaching, saturated with the gross and 
disgusting elements of Tantra and Siva worship. Its 
deities are innumerable, its idolatry without limit. 
In the use of magic formulae, and in the endless 
repetition of sacred names, it rivals the Buddhism 
of China. Its favorite formula is, Om mani padme 
hum, " O jewel in the lotus, amen," which written 
on streamers exposed to the wind, and multiplied 
on paper slips turned by hand, or wind, or water, 
in the so-called prayer-wheels, is thought to secure 
for the agent unspeakable merit. 

The highest deities of Lamaism are five Dhyani- 
Buddhas, or Buddhas of contemplation. They are 
the eternal, heavenly types of which the five human 
Buddhas of the present world-age are only incarna- 
tions. Each Dhyani-Buddha has, besides, his corre- 
sponding Bodhisattva. Of these the most important 
is the Dhyani-Buddha Amitabha, whose Bodhisattva 
is Avalokitesvara, and who became incarnate in 
Gotama Buddha. 

The Dalai-Lama, residing in the great monastery 
at Lhassa, passes for the incarnation of Buddha Ami- 
tabha. When he dies, Amitabha is believed to as- 
sume flesh in a new conception. Accordingly, nine 
months later, a newly born babe is selected by divin- 



150 Buddhism 

ation as the reincarnate Buddha. He is carefully- 
nurtured and surrounded with religious honors, and 
when of mature years assumes authority as the Dalai- 
Lama. 

Between such a religion and Catholicism there is a 
world-wide difference. Yet in its elaborate ceremonial 
and hierarchical constitution, it presents a number of 
resemblances to points of Catholic liturgy and disci- 
pline. "The cross," writes the Abbe Hue, "the 
mitre, the dalmatic, the cope which the Grand Lamas 
wear on their journeys or when they are performing 
some ceremony out of the temple, the service with 
double choirs, the psalmody, the exorcisms, the cen- 
ser suspended from five chains and which you can 
open or close at pleasure, the benedictions given by 
the Lamas by extending the right hand over the 
heads of the faithful, the rosary, ecclesiastical celi- 
bacy, spiritual retirement, veneration of the saints, the 
fasts, processions, litanies, the holy water, — all these 
are analogies between the Buddhist and ourselves." 1 
He might have added to this list the infallible head 
of the church, and grades of the clergy corresponding 
to bishop and priest. The wide propagation of Nes- 
torianism over Central and Eastern Asia in the Middle 
Ages offers a natural explanation for such of these 
resemblances as are accretions on early Buddhism. 2 

In the twelfth and following centuries Buddhism 



*& 



1 Abbe Hue, Travels in Tartary, Tibet, and China, Vol. II. ch. ii. 

2 Vide infra, pp. 299 ff. 



History of Buddhism 151 

spread over Tartary, through the missionary zeal of 
Tibetan Lamas. 

While Northern Buddhism was thus exerting a 
widespread influence over China, Japan, Tartary, and 
Tibet, the earlier form of Buddhism was extending 
its peaceful conquests over the countries and islands 
of Southern Asia. Missionaries from Ceylon evangel- 
ized Burma in the fifth century. Within the next two 
centuries, it spread to Siam, Cambodia, Java, and 
adjacent islands. 1 

When Fa Hien visited India, in the beginning of 
the fifth century, he found Buddhism in a flourishing 
condition. Everywhere he saw splendid stupas and 
monasteries, and temples adorned with precious stat- 
ues. Two centuries later Hiouen Thsang found some 
of the monuments described by his predecessor in 
ruins, but as yet there were no signs of general de- 
cay. In later centuries a reaction against Buddhism 
set in, and Hinduism rapidly gained ground on its 
rival. Whether its decline was hastened by persecu- 
tions is still a subject of dispute, but with the Arab 
conquest of India, Buddhism came to an end in the 
land that gave it birth. Only in the small district of 
Nepal, in the extreme north, and in Ceylon, in the 
extreme south, has it succeeded in maintaining its 
existence. 

The number of Buddhists throughout the world is 
commonly estimated to be about four hundred and 

1 Silbernagel, Op. cit. p. 66. 



152 Buddhism 

fifty millions, or one-third of the human race. But in 
this estimate the error is made of classing all the Chi- 
nese and Japanese as Buddhists. The majority of the 
Chinese are Confucianists and Taoists. A large part 
of the people of Japan adhere to the traditions of 
Shintoism. Professor Legge declares that the Bud- 
dhists in the whole world are not more than one hun- 
dred millions, being far outnumbered, not only by 
Christians, but also by the adherents of Confucianism 
and Hinduism. To this estimate Professor Monier 
Williams 1 gives his approval. Whatever their exact 
number may be, this much is certain, that the vast 
majority adhere to forms of religion which Buddha 
himself would be the first to repudiate. It is the 
Southern Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma, and Siam who 
alone deserve to be identified with the order founded 
by Buddha. They number at the most but thirty 
millions of souls. 

1 Buddhism, p. 1 5. 



CHAPTER V 

THE BUDDHIST SACRED BOOKS 

The twofold Buddhist canon, the Northern (Sanskrit) and the 
Southern (Pali) — The character of the Southern canon — The 
Vinaya-pitaka, Sutta-pitaha , and Abhidhamma-pitaka, constituting 
the Ti-pitaka — Extra-canonical works: the Dipavansa, Mahavansa, 
Commentaries of Buddhaghosa, Milinda Panha — Works peculiar 
to the Northern canon : the Buddha Charita, Lalita Vistara, 
Abkinishkramana Sutra, Saddharma-pundarika — Translations — 
Age of the Ti-pitaka greatly exaggerated — The view that it was 
fixed for good in the time of Asoka unwarranted — The Legend- 
ary Biographies of Buddha — Critical examination of the age 
of the Buddha Charita — Critical examination of the age of the 
Lalita Vistara — Date of the chief Chinese biography — Other 
Chinese versions — Tibetan versions — Dates of the chief biog- 
raphies of the Southern school : the Nidana Katha and the 
Commentary on the Buddhavansa — More recent forms of the 
Buddha-legend. 

BOTH the Northern and the Southern school 
possess a canon of sacred books. The North- 
ern canon, preserved by the Buddhists of Nepal is 
in Sanskrit; the Southern, belonging to the Buddhists 
of Ceylon, is in Pali, a softer language bearing the 
same relation to Sanskrit that Italian does to Latin. 
The two canons are not identical in contents, being 
made up only in part of the same books. The 



154 Buddhism 

Southern canon is the more ancient and the more 
respectable ; for while not without serious defects, 
it is free from the disgusting Tantra literature and 
the Mahayana absurdities that disfigure the Northern 
canon. 

The canonical books of the Southern school, twenty- 
nine in number, are for the most part compilations 
of numerous short themes and tracts by unknown 
authors, the fruit of many ages of Buddhist moraliz- 
ing and speculation. Stripped of their endless repeti- 
tions, they would be about equal in amount to the 
Sacred Scriptures, though, on the whole, far inferior to 
them in depth of thought and richness of expression. 
They abound in commonplaces, and are marred by 
many puerilities and ridiculous superstitions. Despite 
the praise lavished on them by enthusiastic scholars 
like Rhys Davids, 1 they deserve the name of being to 
a large extent dull reading. 

They are grouped under three heads, or, as the 
Buddhists would say, in three baskets (pitakas) : The 
Vinaya-pitaka, a collection of books dealing with the 
disciplinary rules of the order ; 2 the Sutta-pitaka, 
consisting of the alleged discourses of Buddha and 
his early disciples, as well as of didactic and histori- 
cal tracts; 3 and the Abhidhamvia-pitaka, comprising 

1 Cf. his American Lectures on Buddhism, Lect. II. 

2 Most of the Vinaya-pitaka may be found translated in .S". B. E. 
XIII., XVII., and XX. 

s A few of these have been published in English dress in .S\ B. £. 
X. and XI. 



Buddhist Sacred Books 155 

more detailed treaties on subjects chiefly doctrinal. 1 
These three baskets constitute the Buddhist Bible of 
the Southern school known as the triple basket, 
Ti-pitaka (Sanskrit, Tri-pithaka). 

Besides these canonical books, there are a few, 
dating mostly from the fourth and following cent- 
uries, that are held in great esteem. These are the 
Ceylonese chronicles known as the Dipavansa and 
the Mahavansa, in which a history of Buddhism is 
essayed from the death of the founder down to about 
300 A. D. ; the commentaries on the canonical books, 
in part composed, in part compiled, by Buddhaghosa, 
the famous master of Buddhist wisdom belonging to 
the fifth century; and the Milinda Panha, made 
known to English readers by Rhys Davids under the 
title, The Questions of King Milinda? 

Northern Buddhism also has its Tri-pithaka, to 
which belong the legendary lives of Buddha known 
as the Buddha Charita? the Lalita Vistaraf and the 
Abhinislikramana Sutra ; also the favorite work of 
the Mahayana school, known as the Saddharma- 
pundarika, or Lotus of the True Law? 

Only part of the Northern canon is included in 

1 The Abhidhamma books have not yet been made accessible to 
English readers. 

a S. B. E. XXXV. and XXXVI. Its date is placed " at or a little 
after the beginning of the Christian era." Op. cit. Introd. 

3 Translation by E. B. Cowell in 5. B. E. XLIX. 

* French translation by Ph. E. Foucaux, in Annates du Muske 
Gitimet, t. VI. with supplement t. XIX. 

6 Translation by H. Kern in S. B. E. XXI. 



156 Buddhism 

the Tri-pithaka. The rest consists of Tantra and 
Dharani literature, works abounding in obscene and 
magic superstitions. 

In the chief countries abroad where Buddhism took 
firm root, the sacred books were made known to the 
people through translations. These have been nearly 
all preserved, so that to-day the sacred literature of 
Tibet contains the complete Northern canon, while 
the Southern is equally well represented in the 
sacred literature of Siam. The Buddhist literature 
of China is also of great extent. It is made up of 
translations from both the Northern and the South- 
ern canon, but the works peculiar to the former 
predominate. 

In Burmese, too, there are a number of translations 
of works belonging to the Southern canon. 

The attempt has been made by various scholars — 
notably Max Miiller, Rhys Davids, and Professor Old- 
enberg — to determine the age of the different parts 
of the Southern canon, but the data on which they 
rely are not such as to inspire confidence in their 
estimates. That the confession-formula, known as 
the Patimokkha, and some other parts of the Vinaya, 
go back to the early years of the order, and that 
many of the sayings attributed to Buddha in the 
Suttas are in substance, at least, authentic is not 
improbable. But to determine even approximately 
the time when the various parts of the canon took 
permanent form is a matter of the greatest uncer- 



Buddhist Sacred Books 157 

tainty, on which scholars are widely divided. Even 
the question when the canon was finally closed does 
not admit of a positive answer. 

There is no reason to doubt that the threefold 
collection, known as the Ti-pitaka, was already in 
existence when the sacred traditions were first com- 
mitted to writing. This took place, according to the 
Ceylonese chronicles, during the reign of Vattha 
Gamini (88-76 B. C.). 1 But was this Ti-pitaka co-ex- 
tensive with the canon known to Buddhaghosa six 
centuries later? There is no positive evidence avail- 
able to establish this absolute identity. On the con- 
trary, the fact that the life of Buddha, forming the 
introduction to the canonical Jataka was composed 
in the fifth century, creates the strong suspicion that 
additions were made to the canon in the next few 
centuries following its inscription on palm-leaf 
tablets. 

Max Miiller and Rhys Davids, relying on the testi- 
mony of the Ceylonese chronicles, say that the Pali 
canon was fixed definitely at the so-called council 
of Patna held in the reign of Asoka. But the very 
existence of this council is a matter of grave doubt. 2 
In the first place, there is no reference to it in the 
edicts of Asoka. The Bhabra edict, it is true, was 
formerly taken to be a memorial letter to this coun- 

1 Tumour, Mahawanso, p. 207. Cf. Dipavansa, xx. 20, 21. 

2 Cf. Kern, Der Buddhismus, II. pp. 351-352. In his Manual of 
Indian Buddhism, p. no, he sees in the so-called Council of Patna 
nothing more than a mere party-meeting. 



158 Buddhism 

cil ; but it is now recognized to be naught else than 
a proclamation to the Buddhist order enjoining the 
frequent use of certain tracts held to be the authentic 
sayings of Buddha. 1 

Secondly, the existence of this alleged council is 
unknown to Northern Buddhist tradition. This 
silence is alone almost convincing evidence that the 
council is a myth. For the Buddhists of the North 
were evangelized by missionaries from Magadha in 
the reign of Asoka; hay, according to the Ceylonese 
tradition, their evangelization was one of the fruits 
of that very council. A council of such importance 
could not have been ignored by Northern tradition, 
had it really existed. 

1 Cf. p. xxvi of Professor Oldenberg's Introd. to vol. XIII. of S. B. 
E. E. Senart, Les Inscriptions de Piyadasi, II. pp. 304-305. This list is 
interesting:, for while it is perfectly compatible with the existence at 
that time of a much more extensive canon, it bears witness to the 
fact that in Asoka's day but few suttas were credited with an origin 
derived from Buddha himself. The edict is thus rendered by Senart. 

" King Piyadasi greets the clergy of Magadha and wishes them 
prosperity and health. You know, sirs, with what respect and good- 
will I regard Buddha, the Law, and the Clergy. All that has been 
said by the Blessed Buddha has been well said, and as far, sirs, as my 
own will goes, I desire that this religious law may long abide. Here, 
sirs, for example, are religious works : the Teaching of the Disci- 
pline, the Supernatural (?) Powers of the Aryas, the Perils of the 
Future, the Verses on the Hermit, the Questions of Upatishya, the 
Sutra on Perfection, and the Homily on Lying, pronounced by 
the Ulessed Buddha before Rahula. These religious works I would 
have the frequent object of rehearsal and meditation for communities 
of monks and nuns, and for the devout laity of both sexes as well. It 
is for this reason, sirs, that I make this inscription, that you may 
know my will." — Translated from Senart, Op. cit. II. pp. 207-208. 



Buddhist Sacred Books 159 

Again, had the Ti-pitaka received its final and 
permanent form as early as the time of Asoka, it 
must have been known in its entirety to the Bud- 
dhists of the North as well as to those of Ceylon ; for 
both were evangelized at the same time. But the 
presence in the Southern canon of many works not 
found in the Tri-pitJiaka of Northern Buddhism and 
vice versa, shows that on both sides the number of 
sacred works commonly recognized in the third cen- 
tury B. C. was greatly augmented by later accretions. 
In the face of such evidence, it is idle to assume as 
an established truth the final formation of the Pali 
canon in the time of Asoka, especially when the 
sole ground for the assumption is a Ceylonese tradi- 
tion six hundred years later than the alleged event. 1 

Still more hazardous is it to assert on the basis of 
equally uncertain traditions that the great bulk of the 
Vinaya and Sutta texts were passed upon by the 
so-called council of Vaisali, a century after Buddha's 
death. 2 The existence of this council rests on too 
slender a foundation to serve as a reliable datum for 
fixing the age of the oldest parts of the canon. It is 

1 The value of Indian traditions may be judged from the follow- 
ing statement of the judicious scholar James Fergusson : " Any one 
who has travelled in India, knows what sort of information he gets 
even from the best and most intelligent Brahmans with regard to the 
dates of the temples they and their forefathers have administered in 
ever since their erection. One or two thousand years is a moderate 
age for temples which we know were certainly erected within the last 
two or three centuries." — Rude Stone Monuments, p. 493. 

2 Cf. Kern, Manual of Indian Buddhism, p. 109. 



160 Buddhism 

probably nearer the truth to say that part of the 
Vinaya and not a few of the Snttas are posterior to 
the time of Asoka. So profound and discriminating 
a scholar as A. Barth has said : " With the excep- 
tion of two or three events, the memory of which 
has been handed down to us by the Greeks, the 
chronological history of India begins with the in- 
scriptions. The most ancient of these, the famous 
edicts of King Piyadasi-Asoka . . . are also the 
earliest documents undoubtedly authentic that we 
have of Buddhism. It is very probable that among 
the elements that go to make up the Tri-pithaka there 
are some that belong to a past more remote still ; 
for it is certain that the Buddhism of the inscriptions 
— a sort of religion of state in the vast and mighty 
realm of India — was already in possession of a 
literature. But there are many reasons for doubt- 
ing that the Buddhists of that time had come to 
recognize a canon. At any rate, there is not a 
single portion of this canon in its present form, Pali 
as well as Sanskrit, that can be assigned with certi- 
tude to so distant a period." 1 Similar views are 
held by E. Senart 2 and others. 

From these considerations it is plain that the 
larger estimates of the translators of vol. X., XL, and 
XIII. of the Sacred Books of the East are to be re- 
ceived with prudent reserve. This caution is espe- 

1 Revue de V Histoire des Religions, XXVIII. p. 241. 

2 Op. cit. IT. pp. 304-305. 



Buddhist Sacred Books 1 6 1 

cially needed in reading the American Lectures on 
Buddhism, where the illustrious author allows him- 
self to be carried so far by enthusiasm as to attrib- 
ute, with a confidence akin to certainty, extremely 
remote dates to Buddhist suttas, whose existence in 
Asoka's time is at best but conjectural. 1 

It is important to note that of the ancient canon 
belonging unquestionably to the prechristian era, 
only two books, The Book of the Great Decease and 
the MaJiavagga, contain information in regard to the 
life of Buddha. The former, which Rhys Davids 2 
thinks to be as old as 300 B. C, is not a biography, 
but simply an account of Buddha's last days, — his 
sickness, death, obsequies, and the division of his 
relics. "The MaJiavagga, a very old and important 
portion of the Vinaya, giving a history of the foun- 
dation and development of the order of monks, re- 
counts a number of incidents, merely, in the life of 
the founder, beginning with his four weeks of con- 
templation which followed his enlightenment under 
the Bodhi-tree. 3 

For our chief knowledge of the legendary lore that 
encircles the person of Buddha, we are thrown upon 

1 Rhys Davids — Buddhism, N. Y. 1896, Lecture ii. and vi. Cf. also 
pages 95-96, where, on the basis of asutta of unknown date, he tries 
in all seriousness to solve the problem how long it takes a people to 
supematuralize their hero, and decides that it takes less than a 
hundred years ! 

2 S. B. E.Xl. p.xi. 

8 It is translated in S. B. E. vol. XIII. and XVII. 
11 



1 62 Buddhism 

Buddhist books, whose integrity has, to a large ex- 
tent, to be taken on faith, 1 and not one of which can 
be proved to be as old as the synoptic Gospels. The 
abundant mass of carefully sifted evidence, by which 
the authenticity of the latter is vindicated, is in strik- 
ing contrast with the slender and uncertain basis that 
gives support to the generally accepted dates of the 
Buddhist books in question. 2 

The one which has the best claim to priority in 
age is the Sanskrit poem known as the Buddha 
Cliarita. As has been remarked already, it belongs 
to the Northern canon. In its original form, it con- 
sisted of thirteen chapters, and gave the legendary 
tale of Buddha's life as far as his attainment of per- 
fect wisdom under the Bodhi-tree. Most scholars 
agree in ascribing its authorship to the monk Asva- 
ghosa, the contemporary of Kanishka. Still, the evi- 
dence on which this estimate is made is scarcely such 
as would stand the severe tests of biblical critics. 
The earliest positive testimony seems to be that of 

1 The oldest Buddhist MSS. extant are of mediaeval origin. 

2 Card. Newman, in an interesting letter to W. S. Lilly on the 
subject of Buddhism and Christianity, very pertinently says: "To 
prove the authenticity and date of one of our Gospels, we are plunged 
into a maze of manuscripts of various dates and families, of various 
and patristic testimonies and quotations, and to satisfy the severity of 
our critics, there must be an absolute coincidence of text and concor- 
dance of statement in these various manuscripts put forward as 
evidence. If a particular passage is not found in all discovered 
manuscripts, it is condemned. . . . Why are we not to ask for evi- 
dence parallel to this before we receive the history of Buddha ? " — W. 
S. Lilly, The Claims of Christianity. London, 1894. Ch. ii. 



Buddhist Sacred Books 163 

I-Tsing, a Chinese pilgrim who came to India in 673. 
But if we carry this testimony further back, as does 
Professor Beal, to Dhammaraksha, who translated the 
work into Chinese about 400 A. D., it is still too far 
removed from the time of Asvaghosa to exclude 
misgivings. 1 Allowing him, however, on the basis of 
this meagre evidence, to have been the contemporary 
of Kanishka, who held sway in Northern India from 
78 to about 106 A. D., we can hardly be justified in 
placing the composition of his poem earlier than 
70 A. D. It may well be as late as IOO A. D. 

More widely known than the Buddha Charita is 
the Lalita Vistara (Book of Exploits), a work like- 
wise of the Northern Buddhist school. It describes 
the life of Buddha down to the time when he preached 
his first sermon at Benares. It is a Sanskrit work in 
prose, interspersed with many passages in verse, 
which seem to have been taken from some poetic 
life of Buddha and to have been inserted into the 
prose narrative so as to form a harmony. The date 
of this work, the favorite source from which the 
parallels to the incidents in the early life of our 
Saviour are drawn, is a matter of the greatest un- 
certainty. From the Chinese translation, the Phu- 
yau-king, made about 300 A. D., we know that it goes 
back at least to the third century of our era. 2 

1 Cf. Introduction to the Buddha Charita, S. B. E. XLIX. and 
the Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king, S. B. E. XIX. p. xxx. 

2 Cf. S. B. E. XIX. p. xxv. 



164 Buddhism 

In the introduction to his version of the Chinese 
Buddha Charita, Professor Beal, following the Chi- 
nese scholar Stanislas Julien, has sought to identify 
the Lalita Vistara with the original of the so-called 
Fo-pen-hing-king, a Chinese life of Buddha, said to 
have been translated from an Indian source by Chu- 
fa-lan (Gobharana) about 70 A. D. But this is mere 
conjecture. 1 For first of all, the Chinese version is 
no longer extant, and hence offers no basis for com- 
parison. It is true, Professor Beal thinks that a 
number of passages from a certain Pen- king- king, 
which he found quoted in a commentary on Wong 
Puh's Life of BnddJia, a work of the seventh cen- 
tury, are from this Pen-king-king ; for they are not 
identical with the corresponding passages in any 
known Pen-king-king, or life of Buddha, of which 
early Chinese literature offers several examples. 2 
But the strength of this inference is lessened by 
the consideration that these quotations may have 
been taken from some P en-kitig-king of which no 
record has come down to us. 

But furthermore, even if these quotations did 
belong to the early Chinese version, their general 
similarity with corresponding passages in the Lalita 

1 The questionable assertion of Max Miiller that the Lalita Vistara 
" was translated into Chinese 76 A. D." (History of Ancient Sanskrit 
Literature, p. 517) has been unsuspectingly adopted by Isaac Taylor, 
The Alphabet, an Account of the Origin and Development of Letters, 
.London, 1883, vol. II. p. 300. 

2 Cf. S. B. E. XIX. pp. xvi-xvii. 



Buddhist Sacred Books 165 

Vistara would not necessarily imply that the latter 
was the source from which they came. It is just as 
likely that they were derived from the same tradi- 
tional source, perhaps oral, perhaps written, which 
served as a basis for the Lalita Vistara, the Buddha 
Charita, and the other forms of the legend that have 
come down to us. This consideration seems not to 
have escaped the mind of Professor Beal himself, for 
only a few pages further, he admits the possibility 
of the Fo-pen-hing having been connected with the 
Buddha Charita of Asvaghosa, or with " the original 
then circulating in India on which Asvaghosa founded 
his poem." 1 In his Buddhism in China, he is even 
more explicit. 

" We do not know whether the life of Buddha taken to 
China a. d. 72 was in any way derived from this work of 
Asvaghosa, or whether he derived his material from this 
work ; but it is likely that the envoys sent by Ming-ti would 
hear of the writings of the Patriarch of the Northern Bud- 
dhists, and it is possible that the book they took back with 
them was connected (either as the original form of it or as a 
digest) with the Buddha Charita Kavya (J. e. the Epic of 
Buddha)." 2 

It is plain that the possibility of the Fo-pen-hing 
being derived from the Buddha Charita, or some other 
source, as well as from the Lalita Vistara, is very 
slender proof for the existence of the latter as early as 
70 A. D. 

1 Op. cit. p. xxxi. 2 Op. cit. p. 73. Cf. also p. 90. 



1 66 Buddhism 

The rest of the evidence on which the alleged 
antiquity of the Lalita Vistara is based, is equally 
lacking in cogency. Professor Foucaux, who has 
translated the work into French, thinks it to be as old 
as the Council of Kashmir held under King Kanishka ; 
for it is to this council that Tibetan tradition assigns 
the fixing of the Northern Buddhist canon, to which 
the Lalita Vistara belongs. 1 

If his argument were convincing, it would not es- 
tablish for the work in question a greater antiquity 
than 80-105 A - D -> f° r ^ was some time within this 
period that the council was convened. 2 But even 
this estimate cannot be maintained ; for, as Rhys 
Davids has pointed out, the Buddhist tradition on 
which it rests has nothing to commend it. 3 The first 
to give an account of the Council of Kashmir is the 
Chinese pilgrim, Hiouen Thsang, who belongs to the 
seventh century. Of a settlement of the canon, or of 
the Lalita Vistara, he has not a word to say, but 
merely relates that the monks contented themselves 
with drawing up their commentaries to serve as an 
explanation of the Tri-pithaka. A Tibetan tradition, 
which cannot be traced within six centuries of the 
event, is too uncertain a basis to build on. 

There is extant a Chinese translation of the Lalita 

1 This dubious view is adopted by Max Miiller. Op. cit. p. 517. 

2 Vide supra, p. 163. 

3 Cf. Hibbert Lectures on Buddhism, pp. 1 97-204 ; also Buddhism, 
P- 2 39- 



Buddhist Sacred Books 1 67 

Vistara, dating from about 300 A. D. This is the 
earliest positive evidence that we have of the existence 
of the Sanskrit original. It follows that the latter 
must be somewhat earlier still. But the presence in 
it of a striking incident that is not to be found in any 
other version of the Buddha-legend of an earlier date 
than 230 A. D., points to the third century as the time 
when the work was composed, or at least when it 
received its present form. 1 

Besides the Buddha Charita and the Lalita Vistara, 
there is another Sanskrit work which treats of the 
early days of Buddha, the so-called Mahabhinishkra- 
niana Sutra, or Book of the Great Renunciation. Its 
date is unknown, but, like the Lalita Vistara, it does 
not belong, to the Southern canon. In its original 
form it seems to have comprised only the account of 
Buddha's flight from his palace of pleasure, and his 
adoption of the ascetic life. Later, the other incidents 
of Buddha's life were added, so as to make a complete 
narrative from his incarnation to the conversion of 
his father, shortly after his enlightenment under the 
Bodhi-tree. In general character and style it re- 
sembles very much the Lalita Vistara. It was trans- 
lated into Chinese in 588 A. D. Of this version, the 
so-called Fo-pen-hing-tsih-king, Professor Beal has 
made an abridged English translation under the title, 
The Romantic Legend of Sakya Buddha. 

1 Cf. 5. B. E. XIX. pp. xxvi. ff. For the striking incident to 
which allusion is made, vide infra, p. 218. 



1 68 Buddhism 

Besides the biography just mentioned, the Chinese 
Buddhist canon offers several versions dating from 
the first three centuries of our era. Professor Beal 
has enumerated these, and indicated the contents of 
the principal ones in the introduction to his transla- 
tion of the Fo-pen-hing-tsan-king, the Chinese version 
of the Buddha Ckarita} These versions, in conjunc- 
tion with the Buddha Charita, are of great value as 
witnesses to the character and contents of the early 
Buddha-legend. 

There are also Tibetan versions of the Lalita Vistara 
and of the Buddha Charita, but they date, at the very 
earliest, only from the seventh century. The Life of 
Buddha, compiled by W. W. Rockhill from Tibetan 
traditions, represents the legend as developed by the 
accretions of more modern speculations. 

The earliest extant form of the legend which 
we have from the Southern school is the so-called 
Nidana Katha. It constitutes the introduction to the 
Jataka, a book of tales concerning Buddha's former 
lives, and was composed in Ceylon about the middle 
of the fifth century. Its numerous references to other 
biographies, now lost, show that it was not the first 
written version known to the Southern school. It 
gives the narrative from his incarnation to the visit 
he made his father soon after the attainment of 
Buddhaship. An excellent translation has been 
made by Rhys Davids, in his Buddhist Birth Stories, 

i S. B. E. vol. XIX. 



Buddhist Sacred Books 169 

or Jataka Tales. The chief portions of the narrative 
may also be found admirably translated in the very 
useful work of H. C. Warren, Buddhism in Transla- 
tions. 

Practically identical with the Nidana Katlia is the 
biography found in the Commentary 011 the Buddha- 
vansa, a work of the fifth century. It has been trans- 
lated by George Tumour, in the seventh volume of 
the Joitmal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal} 

The Burmese life of Buddha, of which we possess 
an excellent English version by Bishop Bigandet, 
The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the BuddJia of the 
Burmese, is largely a translation of the Nidana Katha. 
As it is of recent origin, dating only from the eigh- 
teenth century, its variations from the more ancient 
form must be set down as the product of later specu- 
lation. 

The same is true of the biography compiled by 
Rev. R. S. Hardy from Ceylonese sources, both new 
and old, which he has published in his Manual of 
Budhism. 

The Siamese are acquainted with a life of Buddha 
very like the Burmese life of which mention has just 
been made. It has been made known to English 
readers in the work of H. Alabaster, The Wheel of the 
Law. 

1 pp. 789 ff. 



PART III 

The Alleged Relations of Buddhism With 
Christianity Examined 



PART III 

The Alleged Relations of Buddhism With 
Christianity Examined 



CHAPTER 

SURVEY OF THE CHIEF WORKS WRITTEN TO SHOW 
THE PRESENCE OF BUDDHIST THOUGHT IN THE 
GOSPELS 

The theory that primitive Christianity was influenced by Buddhism 
not held by the majority of scholars — The three chief advo- 
cates of the theory — (i) Ernst von Bunsen — Outline of his 
argument — Critical view of his defects — (2) Prof. Rudolf Seydel 
— Outline of his argument — Critical view of his defects — (3) 
Arthur Lillie — The untrustworthy character of his works — Out- 
line of his argument — Critical view of his defects — Jesus not an 
Essene — Neither Essenes nor Therapeuts Buddhists — Futility 
of the attempt to make John and Paul out to be Gnostics. 

HAS Christianity derived any of its features from 
the religion of Buddha? This is a question 
that naturally presents itself to the student of Bud- 
dhism. From the majority of those most competent to 
pronounce on the question, it has received a negative 
answer. Among these are the eminent Indianists, 
H. Oldenberg, A. Barth, E. Hardy, Rhys Davids, 
Monier Williams, J. E. Carpenter, E. W. Hopkins, 
Alexander Cunningham, James Burgess, R. Spence 
Hardy, as well as distinguished scholars like H. 



174 Buddhism and Christianity 

Kuenen, Goblet d'Alviella, and Bishop Lightfoot. 
Some, as Christian Lassen, James Prinsep, A. Weber, 
F. Koppen, and James Fergusson, have thought it 
probable that certain secondary features of Christian- 
ity, such as monasticism, the veneration of saints and 
relics, the use of bells, church steeples, rosaries, are 
of Buddhist origin. Of these scholars, the first two 
have prudently abstained from positive pronounce- 
ments, having contented themselves with throwing 
out a few conjectures. 

But what with these was at best but conjecture, has 
been invested by a few recent writers with the dignity 
of an established truth. Nor have they been content 
with the limited influence on Western thought which 
scholars like Lassen and Prinsep have attributed to 
Buddhism, but have sought to prove that the Gospel 
.narrative of the life and teachings of Christ is but a 
'modified version of the Buddha-legend, embellished 
with extracts from the Buddhist sutras. 

The champions of this theory are chiefly three. 1 
The first to write a lengthy treatise on the subject was 
Ernst von Bunsen, 2 who in 1880 brought before the 

1 The other advocates of this theory have done naught else than 
repeat the arguments of the three authors under consideration. 
Hence, there is no call for a special refutation of their several hack- 
neyed productions. 

2 Mr. Bunsen seems to have found the suggestion of his work in 
an article entitled, Der Essaismiis tuidjisiis, which Prof. A. Hilgenfeld 
published in his Zeitschrift fur wissenscluiftliche Theologie, 1867, 10, pp. 
97 ff. and in which he advocated the theory that Jesus adopted Essene 
teachings and customs remotely of Buddhist origin. 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers 175 

public The Atigel Messiah of Buddhists, Essenes, and 
Christians. 

A rapid glance through the pages of this tedious 
volume is enough to convince the discreet reader 
that it is little more than a tissue of worthless 
speculations, for which there is not a shred of sound 
historic proof, nay, which are often out of joint with 
the facts. 

His theory is that the notion of an incarnate Angel- 
Messiah originated with the Zoroastrian Magi of 
Babylon. Buddha imported this and other Zoroas- 
trian doctrines into India. The Magi communicated 
them through Daniel to the Essenes. The opening 
of communications between the East and the West, 
after Alexander's conquests, enabled the Essenes to 
become acquainted with the legendary lore that cen- 
tred around Buddha. Christ was an Essene, and 
being regarded like Buddha as an Angel-Messiah, 
came after his death to have these legends applied to 
Himself. 

In trying to make good this series of propositions, 
which betray on their face a lack of sound scholar- 
ship, the author has employed methods the very 
opposite of scientific. 

Take, for example, the fundamental idea in his 
treatise, that the Essenes looked to an Angel-Messiah, 
i. e., to a divine spirit of heaven destined to assume 
human form, to free mankind from the fetters of sin. 
That this notion formed part of Essene belief, no his- 



176 Buddhism and Christianity 

torian of repute has made bold to affirm. It has 
remained for Mr. Bunsen to try to establish its his- 
torical reality by a process of reasoning that is sadly 
lacking in coherence. 

" The Essenes," he tells us, " believed in angels 
and they also may have believed in an Angel- 
Messiah." 1 He finds that the first direct evidence 
of this belief dates from about 100 A.D. — a date, it 
must be owned, somewhat late for his purpose — in 
the person of a certain Elkesai, said by Epiphanius 
to have been a Jew who joined the sect of the 
Essenes and wrote a prophetic book. According 
to others, he was the founder of the Mendaean sect. 
Referring to Hippolytus 2 (who, by the way, carefully 
distinguishes the Elkesaites from the Essenes), Mr. 
Bunsen informs us that Elkesai is said to have got 
his book from the Parthians in the city Seras, which 
he takes to mean China. After connecting, by one 
of his feats of philology, Elkesai the Jew with the 
Casdim, or Assidaeans, of Palestine, he makes the 
suggestion that Elkesai's book was a Chinese- 
Buddhist work. The reason he gives is both curious 
and characteristic. 

"The connection of Elkesai-Buddha's doctrines with the 
East is proved beyond dispute by the recorded fact that the 
Mendseans, before being received into the Christian sect, 
had solemnly to renounce Zoroaster, whose doctrines were 
by Buddha more generally introduced into India." 

1 Op. cit. p. 103. 2 Refutation of Heresies, B. IX. ch. ix. 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers 177 

Before admitting the indisputable force of this 
argument, most readers would naturally look for 
proofs that Elkesai was a Mendaean, and that Buddha's 
teaching was borrowed from Zoroaster. But these 
proofs are not forthcoming. Neither does it seem to 
have occurred to Mr. Bunsen that if Elkesai was a 
Mendaean, he could not have been an Essene ; for 
the triumphant conclusion of it all is, " Since Elkesai 
was a prophet among the Essenes, these seem to have 
believed in an Angel-Messiah, and this Essenic tradi- 
tion may have been of Chinese-Buddhistic origin." 1 

No less astonishing is his distortion of facts too 
plain to be easily mistaken. 

The simple statement of Jerome that some ancient 
writers took Philo to be the author of the book of 
Wisdom is soberly appealed to as proof that this was 
Jerome's view as well. 2 

Eusebius, he asserts, thought it highly probable 
that Buddhist traditions had been introduced into the 
New Testament writings, and in confirmation directs 
the astonished reader to the passage in his Church 
History (II. 17) where Eusebius, utterly ignoring the 
Buddhists, aims to show that the Therapeuts were 
Christians. 3 

The assertion of Clement of Alexandria that Mary, 
in giving birth to our blessed Saviour, did not lose the 
physical signs of virginity, is twisted into a denial by 

1 Op. cit. pp. 1 1 2-1 1 5. 2 Op. cit. p. 94. 

3 Op. cit. pp. 51, 99. 



178 Buddhism and Christianity 

Clement of the virgin-birth of Christ, and made to do 
proof that he did not interpret Isaias, vii. 14, as pro- 
phetic of Christ's miraculous conception. 

Moreover, since Clement makes no mention here 
of the account in Matthew of the virgin-motherhood 
of Mary, the conclusion is drawn that this Gospel 
passage is an interpolation of later date than the time 
of Clement. 1 Such blunders would be inexcusable, 
even if Clement's homily on this very passage of 
Isaias were not extant, in which he both interprets 
it of Christ's virgin-birth and also makes explicit 
reference to Matthew, i. 23. 

Examples like these, unfortunately too numerous in 
Mr. Bunsen's work, are supplemented by other 
serious defects. His imagination overrides his judg- 
ment, and riots in a profusion of erroneous sugges- 
tions, and worthless assumptions. He never tires of 
recurring to religious art symbols and zodiacal signs, 2 
the constellation Pleiades being the favorite key to 
many religious problems. He is the philologian run 
mad, making startling identifications of names the 
most remote, which identifications are then pressed 
into service for purposes of argument. Homer and 
the Homerides are connected with Gomer and the 
Arabian Gomerides; the Casdim are the Assidaeans; 
John the Baptist (Ashai) means John the Essene ; 

1 Op. cit. p. 109. 

2 It is easy to recognize in this part of his work a revival of the 
obsolete speculations of the French atheists of the eighteenth century. 
Cf. Volney, Les mines, Ch. xxii, § xiii. 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers 1 79 

Pharisee is the same as Pharsis, the Arabian (!) name 
for the Persians ; Pythagoras is the Greek form of 
the compound word Buddha-guru. 1 

But what is more astonishing still is to find the 
flimsy suggestions and unwarranted conjectures of 
earlier chapters turning up later as established truths, 
to become the stepping-stones to further conclusions. 
These serious defects, together with the grossly 
exaggerated parallelism which he seeks to make 
good between the Buddha-legend and the Gospel 
story of Christ, stamp the work as utterly unscien- 
tific and untrustworthy. Professor Kuenen 2 in his 
Hibbert Lectures has scored it with the severity it 
deserves. 

Far superior to Mr. Bunsen in method, reasoning, 
and style, is Professor Rudolf Seydel, who, drawing 
inspiration from Mr. Bunsen's work, published two 
years later his own dissertation on the indebtedness 
of Christianity to Buddhism. 3 After trying in the 

1 His pronouncement on Pythagoras may bear repeating in an 
abridged form, as a further illustration of his visionary mind and 
looseness of thought. Pythagoras, he tells us on the authority of 
Clement of Alexandria, was generally thought to have been a bar- 
barian. This word seems to have been formed after the Indian 
" varvara " and would thus have meant originally a " black skinned 
man with woolly hair." He was thus a Hamite. Now the Hamites 
of Genesis are cognate with the Homeric " Ethiopians from the 
East," and these migrated from India to the West. Pythagoras was 
thus connected by barbarian descent with India. This explains his 
acquaintance with Indian Bodhi or Wisdom. Op. cit. p. 68. 

2 Natural Religion and Universal Religions. London, 1882, p. 235. 

3 Das Evangelium von Jesu in seinen Verhaltnissen zu Buddha-sage 
und Buddha-lehre. Leipzig, 1882. 



180 Buddhism and Christianity 

first part of his treatise to establish the prechristian 
origin of the Buddhist scriptures from which he 
draws, he devotes the bulk of the volume (pp. 105- 
2 93) to an exhaustive comparison of the points 
of resemblance which he has found in the two 
religions. These points of resemblance, fifty-one in 
number, he then proceeds to separate into three 
classes. 

The first class includes those which may be readily 
explained without the hypothesis of a borrowing on 
either side. 

The second class embraces such as from their 
detailed agreement are less likely to be of independ- 
ent origin. 

To each of these two classes he assigns twenty- 
three parallels. The five remaining parallels consti- 
tute the third class, being of such a nature that they 
can be satisfactorily explained only on the ground of 
Buddhist origin. They are, 1st, the presentation of 
the infant Jesus in the temple compared with that 
of the infant Buddha; 2d, the fast of Jesus and that 
of Buddha; 3d, the pre-existence of Jesus and of 
Buddha in heaven; 4th, the episode of Nathaniel and 
the fig-tree in John, i. 46 flf- , which Professor Seydel 
connects with the legend of the Bodhi-tree ; 5th, the 
episode of the man born blind {John, ix. 1-4) which 
is declared to have no place in Jewish thought. 

If Christianity has borrowed these points from 
Buddhism, he argues, the presumption is very strong 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers i 8 1 

that the resemblances of the second class are likewise 
of Buddhist origin. 

But how account for this actual borrowing on the 
part of Christianity ? Professor Seydel thinks, though 
he is unable to prove, that at the time of the forma- 
tion of the synoptic Gospels, there existed a poetic- 
apocalyptic Gospel strongly colored by Buddhistic 
traditions, which the writers of our canonical Gospels 
made use of. These traditions had ample oppor- 
tunity to make their way to the West, for there 
was a constant communication between Greece and 
India from the time of Alexander's conquest. 

If Professor Seydel had succeeded in making good 
the several points of his argument, the conclusion 
that Christianity is largely indebted to Buddhism 
would have been irresistible. But it is just here he 
has egregiously failed. The capital fault of the 
work is its excessive subjectiveness. The five cases 
which he thinks point unmistakably to Buddhist in- 
fluence on Christianity prove, on examination, to be 
the weakest sort of evidence. Many of the alleged 
points of resemblance in the second class of parallels 
are purely fanciful. Others are exaggerated ; while 
not a few are drawn from Buddhist sources that 
are later in date than the Gospels. The presence 
in Palestine of a Buddhistic-apocalyptic Gospel as the 
actual source of the alleged Christian borrowings, is 
purely a figment of his imagination. There is not a 
trace of it in apocryphal writings, not a mention of 



1 82 Buddhism and Christianity 

it in history. It is, moreover, incompatible with the 
early date of the Gospels. 

These defects have been ably pointed out by Pro- 
fessor Seydel's critics, H. Oldenberg, 1 E. Hardy, 2 and 
J. E. Carpenter, 3 with the unanimous verdict that his 
thesis is not proven. 

The third writer who has tried to demonstrate the 
indebtedness of Christianity to Buddhism, is Arthur 
Lillie. The inferior of Professor Seydel both in mental 
grasp and in method of exposition, he has surpassed 
him in prolificness. He is the author of no less than 
four books dealing with the subject under review: 
Buddha and Early Buddhism, London, 1881; 4 The 
Popular Life of Buddha, London, 1883; Buddhism 
in Christendom or Jesus the Essene, London, 1885; 
and The Influence of Buddhism on Primitive Chris- 
tianity, London, 1893. But the matter in these 
volumes, stripped of its repetitions, of its false, inac- 
curate, and unwarranted statements and inferences, 
would be reduced to the compass of a very small 
book, the loss of which would be little felt in the 
world of scholars. 

Scarcely less visionary than his precursor Mr. 

1 Theologische Literaturzeitung, 1882, no. 18, p. 415. 

2 Der Buddhismtis, ch. 7. 

3 Mod. Rev. July, 1882, pp. 620, ff. Professor Seydel published 
a rejoinder to his critics, Die Buddha-legende utid das Leben Jesu nach 
den Evangelien. Leipzig, 1884. It is little more than an abridg- 
ment of his former work, and is vitiated by the same defects. 

4 The American edition published in New York, 1882, is the one 
referred to in this work. 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers 183 

Bunsen, he shows the same fondness for zodiacal 
signs as a key to religious problems, and dilates 
with supreme satisfaction on his theory of the 
Buddhist origin of the symbols of Christian art. He 
is constantly mistaking for facts the dictates of his 
fancy, and repeatedly fails to see things as they are. 

The well-known passage in which Philo 1 gives 
instances from different nations of the life-long prac- 
tice of virtue, mentioning in order the seven wise 
men of Greece, the Magi of Persia, the Gymnoso- 
phists of India, and the Essenes of Palestine, is cited 
as convincing proof that the Essenes were of the 
same faith as the Buddhists, and is made the basis 
for the still more remarkable statement that Philo's 
testimony shows that the " religions of Babylon, 
Palestine, Egypt, and Greece were undermined by 
certain kindred mystical societies organized by 
Buddha's missionaries under the various names of 
Therapeuts, Essenes, Neo-Pythagoreans, Neo-Zoro- 
astrians, etc. Thus Buddhism paved the way for 
Christianity." 2 

He expects the reader to take his word for the 
soundness of his assertion that " the new Zoroaster, 
Elijah, Pythagoras, and Laotse all drew their inspira- 
tion from Buddha." 3 He tells us in confidence that 
the writers of the canonical Gospels " thought it no 

1 Ch. ix. of his essay, Every Virtuous Man is Free. 

2 Influence of Buddhism on Prim. Christianity , pp. 104-105. 
Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 6. 

3 Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 200. 



184 Buddhism and Christianity 

sin to draw on the Alexandrine library of Buddhist 
books for much of their matter," though he does not 
see fit to make known the source of this interesting 
piece of information. 1 He tries to persuade us that 
the Buddhists of Ceylon are theists in the face of the 
Ceylonese priests who have declared officially that 
Buddhism teaches the highest goodness without a 
God. 2 

Indianists must open their eyes wide to be told 
in his several volumes that " through Buddhism the 
institution of caste was assailed and overturned ; " 3 
that " polygamy was for the first time pronounced 
immoral and slavery condemned;" 4 that "woman 
from a chattel was made man's equal ; " 5 that " con- 
version preceded by baptism and a confession of sins 
was an originality of Buddhism;" 6 that the chief 
Buddhist rite was a bread oblation ; " that the Lalita 
Vistara represents the oldest form of Buddhism ; 8 
that the White Lotus of Dharvia {Lotus of the True 
Law} is one of the oldest Buddhist books; 9 that 
Japan was evangelized from Ceylon and that its 
Buddhism is of the Southern school; 10 that, accord- 

1 Influence, p. 3. 

2 Buddha and Early Buddhism, pp. 15-17. Cf. Olcott, A Buddhist 
Catechism according to the Canon of the Southern Church. Boston, 
1885, p. 61. 

3 Buddha and Early Buddhism, Introd. 

4 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 

6 Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 188. 

7 Ibid. p. 188. 8 Ibid. p. 70. 
9 Ibid. p. 70. 10 Ibid. p. 17. 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers i 8 5 

ing to the Buddha-legend, Buddha spent six years 
under the Bo (Bodhi) tree, 1 and that he converted 
and baptized Mara, the tempter. 2 

Statements like these are after all not so astonish- 
ing from one who dares to run counter to the strong 
current of modern scholarship, in asserting that ori- 
ginal Buddhism was based on belief in a supreme 
God 3 and in a future life of conscious happiness ; 
and that the so-called atheistic creed was introduced 
into Northern Buddhism during the reign of King 
Kanishka. Still, from a man who sets himself up as 
an enlightener of benighted Christians, one has a 
right to expect, at least, such accuracy of statement 
as betokens a discerning and critical mind. But 
accuracy is not one of Mr. Lillie's virtues. 

He gravely informs his readers that Christianity 
"proclaimed three Gods instead of one; " 4 and the 
account given by the Abbes Hue and Gabet of the 
rite in which certain fanatic Lamas were wont to 
draw a knife across the abdomen and expose the 
bowels with apparent impunity, a thing which they 
learned from hearsay and not from personal observa- 
tion, is distorted into a " report that they saw a 
Bokte rip open his own stomach in the great court 
of the Lamaserie of Rache Tchurin in Tartary." 5 

1 Ibid. p. 44. 2 Ibid. p. 45. 

8 The pretended theism of Asoka — Mr. Lillie's main proof — 
rests on incorrect translations of the rock-edicts. 
4 Influence, p. 22. 
6 Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 47. 



1 86 Buddhism and Christianity 

The rite of initiation into the order of monks, 
practised by the Buddhists of Nepal — a rite of 
three days' duration consisting of a tedious succes- 
sion of prayers, offerings, and sprinklings, and pre- 
senting but the remotest analogy to the baptismal 
ceremony of the Catholic Church — is, according. to 
Mr. Lillie, so like the Catholic rite of baptism " that 
Rhys Davids may be excused for holding it of Per- 
sian Gnostic origin." 1 Here the presumption is 
conveyed to the unsuspecting reader that the writer 
is not talking at random, for he makes reference to 
Rhys Davids's Buddhism, p. 206 ; but if the reader 
were to take the pains to verify this reference, he 
would find, to his astonishment, that what the dis- 
tinguished author considers a possible derivation 
from Persian Gnosticism is not this Buddhist rite at 
all, of which there is not the slightest mention, but 
the metaphysical notion of the Adi-Buddha ! 

An elementary knowledge of Mr. Fergusson's 
well-known handbook of architecture would have 
saved Mr. Lillie from so gross a blunder as to say: 
" Mr. James Fergusson was of opinion that the vari- 
ous details of the early Christian Church, nave, aisles, 
columns, semi-domed apse, cruciform ground plan, 
were borrowed en bloc from the Buddhists." 2 Had 
he even taken the pains to examine Mr. Fergusson's 
admirable work on Indian and Eastern Architecture, 

1 Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 57. 

2 Buddhism in Christendom, p. 206. — Buddha and Early Buddhism, 
p. 183. — Influence, p. 177. 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers 1 87 

to which he refers, he would have seen that there is 
not a single cruciform ground-plan in all the Bud- 
dhist temples of India ; he would likewise have learned 
from pages 120, 177, and 183-184, that Mr. Fergus- 
son, far from bearing out his assertion, attributes to 
Buddhist architecture, in its later developments, very 
strong Greek influence. 1 But because Mr. Fergusson 
pointed out (p. 117) the curious resemblance of 
the cave-temple of Karle to the choir of Norwich 
cathedral, Mr. Lillie, in whose mind resemblance 
always means dependence, gratuitously attributed 
to him the borrowing en bloc of Christian archi- 
tecture from Buddhist models. This remarkable 
bit of fancy sketching adorns at least three of his 
volumes. 

The impression thus derived of Mr. Lillie's prone- 
ness to error, is by no means relieved by his way of 

1 What Mr. Fergusson says, p. 183, is worth quoting: "If, for 
instance, it is not true that the King of Taxila, in the first century 
spoke good Greek, as Apollonius of Tyana would persuade us he 
did, we know at least that he practised Greek architecture. If Saint 
Thomas did not visit Gondophares, King of Gandhara, in the same 
century, many at least of his countrymen did, and there is no a priori 
reason why he should not have done so also. ... In short, when we 
realize how strongly European influence prevailed in Gandhara in the 
first five or six centuries after Christ, and think how many thousands, 
it may be, millions crossed the Indus going Eastward during that 
period, we ought not to be surprised at any amount of Western 
thought or art we may find in India." It is his conviction " that in 
the first century of the Christian era, the civilization of the West 
exercised an influence on the arts and religion of the inhabitants of 
this part of India far greater than has hitherto been suspected." Cf. 
also Tree and Serpent Worship, pp. 97-98, 161, note, and 221. 



I 88 Buddhism and Christianity 

dealing with the Gospels and with Gospel teaching. 
The credulity he displays in ascribing a prechristian 
antiquity to everything Buddhistic is in striking con- 
trast with his opposition to the best results of sound 
biblical criticism. Assuming the role of the most radi- 
cal of critics, he champions the antiquated theory x 
of Hilgenfeld and Renan that the so-called Gospel 
according to the Hebrews, the Gospel of the Ebionites, 
was the primitive Gospel and the source of much in 
Matthew and Lake. The canonical Gospels he throws 
•into the second century, and discovers interpolations 
on every other page. 2 

In his interpretation of Scripture he displays a lack 
of knowledge that is even less excusable. He quotes 
approvingly a passage from a work of L. Jacolliot — 
a writer ignored by the scholars of France — in which 
the prediction of Christ that his followers would 
suffer persecution, even from their nearest relatives 
{Matthew, x. 21), is made to read as if Christ bade 
the brother deliver up the brother to death. 3 

The familiar story in Lake (v. 18-26) of the mirac- 
ulous cure which Christ, in proof of His power to 
forgive sins, wrought in the man sick of palsy, is 
appealed to as evidence that Christ held certain 
maladies to be the consequences of sinful conduct in 
previous lives, " for He distinctly announced thar. the 

1 Cf. Holtzman, Einlettung in das Neue Testament, Freiburg, 1S98, 
p. 488. 

2 Influence, ch. vi. 8 Influence, p. 57. 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers 189 

cure was effected not by any physical processes, but 
by annulling the sins which were the cause of his 
malady." 1 

The words of Christ in MattJiew, xix. II, 12, con- 
cerning the eunuchs who have made themselves such 
for the kingdom of heaven, are brought forth, together 
with. Apoc. xiv. 1-4, as proof that He enjoined celibacy 
on his followers. 2 The decision of the Council of 
Jerusalem that the Gentile converts should observe 
the Mosaic custom of abstaining from things strangled 
and from blood {Acts, xv. 28-29) is distorted into an 
absolute prohibition to use any kind of flesh meat as 
food. 3 

The words of the angel to Zachary that the son to 
be born to him shall drink no wine or strong drink, 
coupled with other texts, as Mark, xv. 23, Apoc. xviii. 
3, and xxi. 17, are made to do proof that abstinence 
from wine was likewise exacted of the primitive 
Christians. 4 

1 Influence, p. 55. 

2 Influence, p. 141. — Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 210. 

3 Buddha and F.arly Buddhism, p. 211. 

4 Ibid. Mr. Lillie is open to the charge of reasoning in a circle. 
In his Influence of Buddhism on Primitive Christianity, p. 140, argu- 
ing that Christ was an Essene on the ground of resemblances in 
doctrine and practice, he notes that Christ imitated the Essenes in 
giving a new name to converts. This bit of information in regard to 
the Essenes is not to be found in any ancient writer. Its source is 
Mr. Lillie's Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 190, where we read, 
" From the example of Christ we may infer that the Essenes gave a new 
name to their converts''' 

His memory fails him at times, as when on p. 213 of his Buddha 



igo Buddhism and Christianity 

Grave errors like these are hardly calculated to 
inspire confidence in the teacher who has taken on 
himself the mission of leading his fellow-men from 
the gloom of Christianity into the light of Buddhism. 
Still men may make mistakes in detail and at the 
same time be right in their main line of argument. 
Can this much at least be said of Mr. Lillic? 

Mr. Lillie's thesis is that the Buddhist origin of 
Christianity, which is patent from the close agree- 
ment it shows with the legend and teachings of 
Buddha, finds its explanation in the Essenism of 
Jesus, and in the Gnosticism of the writers of the 
New Testament. Now the Essenes, like their closely 
related cenobites in Egypt, the Therapeuts, were 
monks of Buddhist parentage, imbued consequently 
with the same traditions that characterized the dis- 
ciples of Buddha in India and elsewhere. Gnosticism 
was likewise Buddhist metaphysics. And so Chris- 
tianity could be naught else than a new phase of 
Buddhism, since Jesus was an Essene and Paul and 
John were Gnostics. 

This is practically the same argument as that of 
Mr. Bunsen, and its exposition is characterized by 
the same defects. The fundamental principle run- 

and Early Buddhism he argues that Jesus was an Essene and hence 
a Buddhist, because among other things He allowed His head to be 
anointed with the precious spikenard (Matthew, xxvi. 7), while only 
a few pages before (p. 192) he makes a statement that undermines 
his argument completely : " Buddhists and Essenes considered oil a 
defilement, though it was a sacred unguent in the Brahmanic and 
Jewish religions." 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers 191 

ning through it all is that resemblance means de- 
pendence, a principle which, taken without reserve, 
is sure to lead astray. This principle Mr. Lillie 
uses in the most reckless and uncritical manner. To 
show the indebtedness of Christianity to Buddhism 
he fancies analogies that have no existence, exagger- 
ates those that are but remote and imperfect, and 
draws from Buddhist sources that by reason of time 
and distance could have had no possible influence on 
Christianity. With the agility of a legendary rishi, 
he flies for proofs, now to a Chinese version four 
or five centuries later than the Gospels, now to a 
Ceylonese text of the fifth century, now to a Burmese 
story of modern times, now to a rite in Tibet or 
China or Japan that is plainly posterior to the 
Christian rite with which it is compared. Similari- 
ties like these are just as valuable in his eyes as the 
resemblances that are plainly prechristian. 

A similar looseness of thought is displayed in the 
other points of his argument. The Essenes and 
Therapeuts are declared to have been Buddhists, 
because in their discipline and mode of life they had 
a number of features found likewise in Buddhism. 
Jesus and John the Baptist are set down as Essenes 
because of a few points of resemblance with Essene 
doctrine and practice. John and Paul were Gnostics 
because several words found in their writings were 
words especially used by the Gnostics. 

It needs but a grain of common-sense to detect the 



192 Buddhism and Christianity 

sophistry of this kind of reasoning. To prove the 
identity of A with B, it does not suffice to show that 
they agree in some particulars merely. A perfect 
agreement is needed. If there are important facts 
in which they are at variance, they cannot be classed 
together. Apply this principle to Mr. Lillie's thesis, 
and the fair bubbles he has blown burst and dis- 
appear. 

From the accounts given of the Essenes by Jose- 
phus, Philo, and Hippolytus, we know that the 
Essenes outdid the Pharisees in scrupulous ob- 
servance of the Sabbath rest and of ceremonial 
purity. They abstained from meat and wine, even 
from the custom, so common in the East, of anoint- 
ing the body with oil. They avoided food prepared 
by others as pollution. Bound together by oath into 
a rigidly exclusive association, they held aloof from 
the Temple feasts, and avoided the society, not only 
of publicans, but of the Pharisees themselves. Mere 
accidental contact even with an Essene of lower 
grade was held to be defiling, and had to be expiated 
by an ablution. 

One must be blind indeed to see an exemplifica- 
tion of these principles in the life of Him who 
avoided the society of Essenes, and chose for com- 
panions men whom they despised ; who mingled 
freely with publicans and sinners, and partook of 
their food ; who laid hands on the sick, and healed 
on the Sabbath day ; who allowed a penitent woman 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers 193 

to wash His feet with her tears, and a pious female 
host to anoint His head with oil ; who supplied wine 
for the guests at the wedding feast, and fish for the 
hungry multitude; who tasted wine at the Last Sup- 
per, and partook of the Paschal lamb ; who took part 
in the Temple feasts. The founder of Christianity, 
forsooth, a member of a sect that from the earliest 
times was branded by Christian writers as a heresy ! x 
Scarcely less objectionable is Mr. Lillie's attempt 
to prove that the Essenes and Therapeuts were one 
with the Buddhists. As in the preceding instance, 
his chief reason is the fallacious argument from 
partial resemblance. 2 Like the Buddhists, the Es- 

1 Mr. Lillie argues that John the Baptist was an Essene because 
he was an ascetic. But it would seem that the Gospel statement that 
he was a Nazarite ought to account satisfactorily for his asceticism, 
unless, forsooth, the Nazarites of ancient Jewish times were also 
Essenes. The statement in both Matthew and Mark that John fed 
on locusts and wild honey is hardly in accord with his alleged Essene 
belief. But Mr. Lillie escapes this difficulty by conveniently suggest- 
ing that this double text is an interpolation. When, moreover, he 
says that John " induced a whole people to come out to the desert 
and adopt the Essene rites and their community of goods " {Influ- 
ence, p. 138), he goes wide astray, for far from speaking like an Es- 
sene, John showed a leniency towards publicans and soldiers that 
every Essene would have condemned. " There came to him also 
publicans to be baptized, and they said unto him, Master, what must 
we do ? And he said unto them, Extort no one more than that which 
is appointed you. And soldiers also asked him, saying, And we, 
what must we do ? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, 

neither exact anything wrongfully and be content with your wages.'' 
Luke, iii. 12-14. 

2 It is surprising to find a scholar of Professor Beal's ability led 
astray by this very fallacy. Cf. Abstract of Four Lectures on Buddhist 
Literature in China, London, 1882, pp. 159 ff. 

'3 



194 Buddhism and Christianity 

senes and Therapeuts were monks, committed to a 
life of celibacy and asceticism ; they abstained from 
meat and wine, and had all things in common. But 
unfortunately for the conclusion that Mr. Lillie has- 
tens to draw, there are a number of fundamental 
differences which show unmistakably that neither the 
Therapeuts nor the Essenes conformed to Buddhist 
belief and practice. 

Granting what many scholars of recent times 
deny, — that the Therapeuts really existed, — their 
use of the sacred Scriptures and their exclusive wor- 
ship of Jehovah, as well as their custom of wearing 
white robes, of eating only after sunset, and of cele- 
brating religious feasts late at night in which pious 
women were allowed to participate, stamp them as 
anything but Buddhists. 1 

Even more striking still is the contrast between 
Buddhism and Essenism. To the latter the yellow 
robe — the distinctive mark of Buddhism — was un- 
known. While the Essene would let himself starve 
to death rather than eat the food of those not of his 
communion, and hence supported himself by the 
labor of his hands, the Buddhist made it a funda- 

1 Since the appearance of the book of P. C. Lucius, Die Thera- 
penten, Strassburg, 1879, tne essay formerly ascribed to Philo, On the 
Contemplative Life, from which our knowledge of the Therapeuts is 
drawn, has come to be held by many scholars as a spurious work of 
Christian origin. Cf. E. Schiirer. History of the Jr.uish People in the 
Time of Christ, N. Y. 1891, II. ii. p. 218, and III. p. 358 ; Schaff-Herzog, 
Encyclopedia, article, Therapeuts ; contra, Smith & Wace, Dictionary 
of American Biography, article, Philo. 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers 195 

mental rule to live on the alms of others, and ac- 
cepted invitations to dine at their homes. Of the 
purifying ablutions so essential to Essenism, the 
Buddhist knew nothing. Notwithstanding their life 
of seclusion, the Essenes were recognized as ortho- 
dox Jews. Their God was the God of Abraham and 
Isaac and Jacob. Their legislator, whose name Jose- 
phus does not mention, but whom scholars gener- 
ally take to be Moses, was held in reverence near 
to excess. Their scriptures were those of Moses 
and the prophets, with perhaps a few apocalyptic 
works like the book of Enocli and that of the 
Jubilees. They strictly conformed to the law of 
circumcision. Their observance of the Sabbath rest 
was most rigid. They rejected with horror images 
and graven things. They believed in a future life 
where the good were eternally happy and the bad 
eternally wretched. A more absolute contrast be- 
tween Buddhism and Essenism could not reasonably 
be desired to disprove their alleged identity. 1 When, 
besides, we consider that in all the Palestinian Jewish 
literature, there is not a trace of distinctively Bud- 
dhist teaching, when we bear in mind that the name 
of Buddha is not once associated with the Essenes, 
when we see scholars most competent to pronounce 
on the question, like Zeller, Lightfoot, Schiirer, Gins- 

1 Cf. Josephus, Wars of the Jews, II. ch. 8. — Hippolytus, Refuta- 
tion of Heresies, IX. ch. 13-22 (Vol. V. of Ante-Nicene Fathers, N.Y. 
1S96). 



196 Buddhism and Christianity 

berg, Edersheim, and Conybeare, denying even a re- 
mote connection of Essenism with Buddhism, we are 
amply justified in setting down the theory in ques- 
tion as an absolute failure. 1 

Mr. Lillie's attempt to prove that Saint John and 
Saint Paul were Gnostics is so puerile as scarcely to 
deserve notice. Ignoring the fact that their teach- 
ings are toto ccelo different from the tenets of Gnos- 
ticism, he notes that both the prologue of Saint Jolm s 
Gospel and the Epistles to the Corinthians and Eplie- 
sians contain words to which the Gnostics attached a 
special meaning. That these words, such as light, 
life, grace, truth, fulness, word, generation, have in 
the sacred texts the meanings peculiar to Gnosticism, 
he does not and cannot prove ; hence his argument 
is utterly valueless. They indicate the presence of 
Gnosticism in the New Testament just as much and 
just as little as they do in the works of Plato and 
other pre-Gnostic writers, where the same words may 
be found. 

It is idle to follow Mr. Lillie in his further attempt 
to show the Buddhist origin of early Gnosticism, for 
it is quite irrelevant. It is not amiss, however, to 

1 Mr. Lillie makes too large a demand on our credulity when he 
asks us to see in Jewish Essenism a new edition of Buddhism with 
the great central figure, Buddha, left out. " The Buddhists," he says, 
" appear not to have obtruded Sakya Muni's name, but to have 
fathered their teachings on some local Buddha." Buddha and Early 
Buddhism, p. 200. Buddhism without Buddha is as great a paradox 
as Christianity without Christ. 



Chief Pro-Buddhist Writers 197 

note that in trying to make good this point he has 
recourse to a fallacy. The early Church authorities, 
he argues, indirectly witness to the Buddhist source 
of early Gnosticism, for they exacted of Gnostic con- 
verts the abjuration of the doctrines of Bodda and 
Skuthianos. 1 But the truth is that those of whom 
this formula of abjuration was exacted were not the 
early Gnostics, but converts from Manichseism, a sect 
of the third century. 2 

Having thus got a general idea of the character of 
the several works that aim to show the indebtedness 
of Christianity to Buddhism, let us proceed to the 
careful examination of the main argument common 
to all, which is based on the comparison of the points 
of resemblance in both religions. 

1 Buddhism in Christendom, p. 235. 

2 'Avadtfiarifa Kal Ka.Ta6€/j.aTi£a ZapdSrjv Kal B6SSau Kal ~2,Kvdiavov, 
tovs npb Mavixa'"»v yeyov6ras. A. Galland, Bibliotheca Veterum Pa- 
trum, Venetiis, 1767, iii. p. 611. 



CHAPTER II 

EXAGGERATED RESEMBLANCES 

Spurious evidence used to impugn the originality of the Gospels 
classified under three heads : exaggerations, anachronisms, fictions 

— Exaggerations — The pre-existence of Jesus in heaven con- 
trasted with that ascribed to Buddha — Divergent circumstances 
of birth — Simeon versus Asita — The fast of Jesus compared 
with that of Buddha — Unfair attempts to exaggerate the re- 
semblances between the temptation of Jesus and that of Buddha 

— The transfiguration of Jesus without a close counterpart in the 
Buddha-legend. 

IN the works of Bunsen, Seydel, and Lillie, great 
stress is laid on the comparison of those charac- 
teristics that Buddhism and Christianity are supposed 
to have in common ; for it is argued that where there 
is resemblance, there is dependence. Hence, the 
more numerous the similarities discovered in the two 
religions, the more imposing the evidence in proof of 
Buddhist influence on Christianity. 

Reserving for later discussion the soundness of the 
principle that resemblance means dependence, let us 
first put aside those alleged resemblances that have 
no right to a place in the argument. The amount of 
this spurious evidence is surprisingly large; for in 
their zeal to make the points of contact as numerous 
as possible, the writers in question have gone far 
beyond the limits of prudence and fairness. 



Exaggerated Resemblances 199 

First, in not a few instances, where comparison 
would otherwise be legitimate, the alleged resem- 
blance is grossly exaggerated; secondly, a goodly 
number of these pretended similarities are drawn from 
Buddhist sources that are posterior to the Christian ; 
thirdly, a still larger number are pure fictions. Let 
us, then, for the sake of clearness, examine, first, the 
exaggerations ; secondly, the anachronisms; and 
thirdly, the fictions, that have been pressed into ser- 
vice to show the indebtedness of Christianity to 
Buddhism. 

EXAGGERATIONS 

Under the head of exaggerations should be classed 
not only those parallels that are represented to be 
much more complete than the facts warrant, but those 
as well which at first sight are striking, but which 
prove on examination to be of little significance on 
account of their many points of contrast. We begin 
with the latter. 

(1) Both Professor Seydel 1 and Mr. Lillie 2 call 
attention to the fact that as Jesus is believed to have 
enjoyed an existence in heaven previous to His incar- 
nation, so in like manner Buddha is represented as 
dwelling in the Tusita heaven till the time came for 
his descent in the form of an elephant into his mother 
Maya. But this parallel is not nearly so remarkable 

1 Op. cit. p. 295. 

2 Influence of Buddhism on Primitive Christianity, p. 23. 



200 Buddhism and Christianity 

as it appears at first sight. The existence of Jesus in 
heaven is unique, for it is the existence of God Him- 
self. That of Buddha is not extraordinary, being 
simply what was common to hundreds of the Bodhi- 
sattvas, who by the merits of their previous births 
raised themselves to this high but impermanent 
condition. Jesus existed in heaven from eternity. 
Buddha's life in the Tusita heaven was of very limited 
extent, having been preceded by many other kinds of 
existence, some honorable and some without honor. 
Eighty-three times he had lived as an ascetic, fifty- 
eight times as a king, twenty-four times as a Brah- 
man, twenty times as the god Sakkha, forty-three 
times as a tree-god, five times as a slave, once as a 
devil-dancer, not to speak of animal existences as a 
rat, pig, hare, lion, jackal, pigeon, deer, and others. 

It is hardly from a source like this that the lofty 
conception of Christ's pre-existence in heaven could 
have been derived. And yet, strange to say, Professor 
Seydel holds this to be one of the five striking re- 
semblances that cannot be fitly explained except on 
the hypothesis of a borrowing on the part of Christi- 
anity from Buddhism. 

(2) In the circumstances of the birth of Christ, all 
three writers think they find an echo of the Buddha- 
legend. 1 But here again the resemblances are only 
superficial and are less remarkable than the contrasts. 

1 Bunsen, Op. cit. p. 34. — Seydel, Op. cit. p. 136. — Lillie, Influence, 
p. 26. 



Exaggerated Resemblances 201 

It is true that Christ, like Buddha, is of royal line- 
age. But Joseph and Mary lived in poverty and 
obscurity, whereas the parents of Buddha are de- 
picted as king and queen reigning in great magnifi- 
cence. 

Maya, like Mary, was delivered while on a journey. 
But Maya was enjoying an excursion undertaken at 
her own desire, in the company of an immense pro- 
cession of gods, warriors, and waiting-women ; and she 
gave birth to her son under the Sala-tree with every 
circumstance of luxury and splendor that oriental 
fancy could invent to enhance the dignity of Buddha. 
What a striking contrast with the painful journey of 
Mary to the distant village of Bethlehem, and the 
humiliating and lonely surroundings in which Jesus 
was born ! 

The Buddha-legend states that at Buddha's birth, 
the earth was shaken, showers of perfumed rain and 
lotus-blossoms fell from the cloudless sky, while 
heavenly spirits sang and played music. The latter 
incident reminds one of the angel-songs at Christ's 
birth, but is not a resemblance of so striking a char- 
acter as to suggest an historic connection. 1 

1 Buddha Charita, b. i. Romantic Legend of Sakya Buddha, ch. 
viii. In the latter is a heavenly song that bears a resemblance to 
the angelic announcement to the shepherds. " To-day Bodhisattva 
is born on earth, to give joy and peace to men and devas, to shed 
light in the dark places, and to give sight to the blind" (p. 56). But 
this song being five centuries later than its Gospel parallel cannot be 
made to tell against the originality of the latter. 



202 Buddhism and Christianity 

When Buddha was born, he is said to have taken 
seven steps and to have exclaimed : " I am the 
greatest being in the whole world. I am the best 
guide in the world. This my last birth." 1 

To this utterance which, for greater effectiveness, 
he gives in the elaborated form peculiar to the 
Chinese version of the sixth century, The Romantic 
Legend of Sakya Buddha, Mr. Lillie 2 brings forward 
a parallel, not from the canonical Gospels, but from 
the apocryphal Gospel of the Infancy. There the 
divine Infant, addressing Mary from His cradle, is 
made to say: 

" I am Jesus the Son of God, the Word whom thou didst 
bring forth according to the declaration of the angel Gabriel 
to thee, and my Father hath sent me for the salvation of the 
world." 

Now if it were to be granted that this passage be- 
trays a Buddhist origin, the originality of the inspired 
Christian records would not be shaken in the least. 
The fact that it had a place only in a work rejected as 
spurious and unorthodox, would tell rather in favor 
of the exclusive and independent character of the 
canonical Gospels. It would not, indeed, be very 
significant to find in an apocryphal work traces of 
Buddhist lore, since such books are of more recent 
date than the four Gospels, and since, besides, some 
of them took their rise in Persia in the interest of 
heretical schools. 

1 Lalita Vistara, vii. 2 Influence, p. 27. 



Exaggerated Resemblances 203 

But the present Buddhist parallel, reduced to its 
primitive form, does not present so remarkable a 
resemblance to the incident related in the Gospel of 
the Infancy as to call seriously into question its 
independent origin. The thoughts to which the 
infant Jesus and the infant Buddha are made to give 
expression, are not the same. The only real point 
of agreement is the precocious use of the faculty of 
speech. But to account for this similarity, it is not 
necessary to have recourse to the Lalita Vistara, 
which is less ancient than the Gospel of tlie Infancy. 
It is not unlikely that the incident attributed to the 
infant Jesus was suggested by a too literal interpreta- 
tion of Hebrews, x. 5-7 : 

" Wherefore, when He cometh into the world, He saith : 
Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldst not, but a body thou 
hast fitted to use. Holocausts for sin did not please thee. 
Then said I : behold I come. In the head of the book it is 
written of me that I should do Thy will, O God." 

(3) There is, indeed, a rather striking resemblance 
between the venerable Simeon prophesying the future 
greatness of the Infant Jesus, and the aged rishi Asita 
foretelling to the king that his infant son will one day 
become a Buddha. As might be expected, this 
point of comparison does not fail to be set forth by 
each of the three writers under review. 1 But the cir- 
cumstances of the Gospel incident are quite unlike 

1 Bunsen, Op. cit. p. 36. Seydel, Op. cit. p. 139. Lillie, Influence, 
p. 29. 



204 Buddhism and Christianity 

those of the Buddhist parallel. Simeon's prophecy is 
given on the occasion of the presentation of Jesus in 
the temple. The prophecy over the infant Buddha is 
made, not in the temple of the gods, but in the 
palace, to which the aged rishi, on learning the birth 
of the wonderful infant, betook himself by magic 
flight from the distant Himalayas. Simeon, rejoicing 
that his eyes have rested on the Saviour of Israel, de- 
clares himself ready to depart from earthly life. 
Asita weeps because he sees he will not live to see 
the day when the child shall have attained to 
Buddhaship. 1 It may well be doubted whether stories 
presenting contrasts like these have any affinity with 
each other. 

(4) The forty days' fast of Jesus, with its well- 
known prototypes in the Old Testament of Moses 2 
and of Elias, 3 ought surely to be one of the last things 
in the Gospel narrative to be suspected of Buddhist 
origin. Yet even here common-sense has had to give 
way to the mania for discovering a Buddhist pattern 
for everything Christian. But the parallel proposed 
is anything but complete. The Buddha-legend tells 
how Buddha, after overcoming Mara, and attaining to 
perfect enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree, remained 
for seven weeks near it, taking no food and enjoying 

1 Mr. Bunsen's statement that Asita "returns rejoicing to his 
mountain home, for his eyes have seen the promised and expected 
Saviour" (Op. cit. p. 36), is an example of his gratuitous application 
of Scripture language to Buddha-legend. 

2 Ex. xxxiv. 28. 8 III Kin^s xix. 8. 



Exaggerated Resemblances 205 

the bliss of emancipation. 1 To make this forty-nine 
days' fast more like that of Jesus, which was followed 
by the temptation, Professor Seydel, 2 in flat contradic- 
tion of the legend, pretends that this fast preceded 
Buddha's victorious conflict and enlightenment under 
the Bodhi-tree. Mr. Lillie 3 follows blindly in his 
footsteps, and falls into the same ditch. 

It is to be noted that this is one of the five parallels 
that, in the mind of Professor Seydel, betray unmis- 
takably the presence in the Gospels of Buddhist in- 
fluence. This story of Jesus' fast, he argues, cannot 
be original, for it does not fit in with the attitude of 
Jesus towards the asceticism of John the Baptist. But, 
not to follow an ascetic life is one thing, to avoid all 
practice of fasting is another. That Jesus both prac- 
tised fasting and taught his disciples to fast, the Gos- 
pels give ample evidence. Had Professor Seydel 
given this subject a little more thought, he would 
have recognized that the same argument could be 
turned against the propriety of Buddha's fast, since, 
only a few days before, he had abandoned as useless 
the rigorous mortifications of the Brahman ascetics. 

(5) In the Buddha-legend, there is an analogy to 
the Gospel story of the temptation of Jesus by Satan. 
But in making the comparison, both Mr. Bunsen and 
Mr. Lillie are guilty of unwarranted exaggerations. 

1 According to the most ancient account, this period of fasting and 
contemplation lasted but four weeks. Cf. S. B. E. XIII. pp. 73 ff. 

2 Op. cit. p. 154. 8 Influence, p. 44. 



206 Buddhism and Christianity 

To bring the Buddhist parallel closer to the threefold 
temptation of Christ, Mr. Lillie pretends that Buddha 
likewise underwent a threefold temptation under the 
Bodhi-tree. 

" The first temptation of Buddha," he says, 1 " when 
Mara assailed him under the Bo-tree, is precisely 
similar to that of Jesus. His long fast had very 
nearly killed him. ' Sweet creature, you are at the 
point of death. Sacrifice food.' This meant, eat a 
portion to save your life." 

Now in the first place, this incident, which is re- 
lated in chapter xviii. of the Lalita Vistara, is said 
to have taken place, not under the Bodhi-tree, but 
just before he abandoned as useless the austere life of 
an ascetic.' 2 Moreover, there is a difference between 
the alleged temptation of Buddha and that of Jesus. 
What Satan asked of Jesus was not so much to eat 
food, for the end of the fast was already at hand, but 
rather to take occasion of His hunger to make a dis- 
play of His divine power. " If thou be the Son of 
God, command that these stones be made bread." 
But what Mara proposes to Gotama is to abandon his 
practice of undue asceticism, and preserve his life by 
taking food. Though this advice is rejected as an 
evil temptation, its wisdom is proved by the subse- 
quent conduct of Gotama himself, for, convinced of 
the unprofitableness of a life of constant fasting, he 
adopts the very course suggested by Mara. 

1 Itifluence, p. 45. 2 Cf. also S. B. E. X. p. 69. 



Exaggerated Resemblances 207 

" The second temptation of Mara," he goes on to 
say, 1 " is also like one of Satan's. The tempter by a 
miracle shows Buddha the glorious city of Kapila- 
vastu, twisting the earth round like the wheel of a 
potter to do this. He offers to make him a mighty 
King of Kings [Chakravartin] in seven days (Bigandet, 
p. 65)." 

Here, again, the comparison of this so-called sec- 
ond temptation with the well-known second tempta- 
tion of Jesus, as told in the fourth chapter of Luke, is 
marred by gross exaggeration. 

First, in calling this the second temptation and 
making it happen under the Bodhi-tree, he sets him- 
self in flat contradiction to the authoritative teaching 
of the legend as known to both Northern and South- 
ern schools. There is no authority in his favor, ex- 
cept the Chinese version of the sixth century, known 
as the Romantic Legend. The very version to which 
he makes reference, the life of Buddha translated by 
Bishop Bigandet, agrees with the Nidana Kathct in 
assigning this temptation to the night when Buddha 
was abandoning his home and making his escape from 
the city. 

More objectionable still is the fictitious description 
which Mr. Lillie gives of the temptation itself. Just 
as Satan showed Christ all the kingdoms of the earth, 
so Mara is represented as showing, by a miracle the 
glorious city of Kapilavastu. This is a pure fiction, 

1 Influence, p. 45. 



208 Buddhism and Christianity 

for which there is not a single authority, not even the 
authority of Bishop Bigandet, on which he seemingly 
relies. Here we are told that as Buddha was fleeing 
from Kapilavastu, he repressed the rising desire to 
turn back and take one last look at the magnificent 
city, whereupon the earth turned like a potter's wheel 
" so that the very object he denied himself the satis- 
faction of contemplating came of itself under his 
eyes." 1 This marvellous incident is not ascribed to 
Mara's power, nor has it any connection with the 
foregoing story of the temptation. The latter is told 
in a few words. Mara appears to Buddha in his flight 
from the city, and urges him to return, for in seven 
days he will become a universal monarch. Buddha 
rejects his advice with scorn. It is to be noted that 
Mara, unlike Satan, does not pretend that universal 
dominion is in his gift, but simply acts the part of a 
prophetic adviser. 

But besides bearing only a superficial resemblance 
to the story of Christ's temptation to universal power, 
this parallel lacks all likelihood of having inspired 
the Gospel story. For while it is common to the 
Southern forms of the legend, it is absent from the 
earlier scriptures of the Northern school, even the 
Lalita Vistara. 

The so-called third temptation to sensuality by 
Mara's daughters has nothing in common with the 
Gospel story. 

1 Bigandet, Op. cit. I. p. 63. 



Exaggerated Resemblances 209 

The assertion made by Mr. Bunsen * and repeated 
by Mr. Lillie 2 that, after Buddha's triumph over the 
tempter, angels comforted him, is another illustration 
of the reckless manner in which Buddhism is com- 
pared with Christianity. The Buddha-legend simply 
states that after Buddha's successful conflict with 
Mara under the Bodhi-tree, the gods and heavenly 
spirits, who had fled in dire fear, returned and did 
homage to him as the greatest of beings. 

(6) The story of Moses coming down from Mount 
Sinai with countenance of dazzling splendor, 3 bears 
but a distant resemblance to the story of Christ's 
transfiguration on the mount. Yet the origin of the 
latter is sought in Buddhist parallels that are far less 
striking. 

Professor Seydel 4 gives his preference to the incident 
preceding Buddha's death, when his body shone with 
so great a brightness as to dim the splendor of the 
golden robe that had been put upon him. 

Mr. Bunsen traces the Gospel story to the tale in 
the Romantic Legend 5 that Buddha, coming one 
time to a mountain of Ceylon, sat down beneath a 
tree, when his body began to shine like a golden 
image, so that the people took him for the mountain 
spirit. This parallel, besides being so superficial, 
labors under the fatal disadvantage of having no 

1 Op. cit. p. 40. 2 Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 107. 

3 Ex. xxxiv. 29. * Op. cit. 240. 

5 Ibid. pp. 177-178. 

14 



2 i o Buddhism and Christianity 

earlier authority for its antiquity than the Chinese 
version, just mentioned, of the sixth century. 

The parallel proposed by Mr. Lillie * is the incident 
of Buddha's descent from the Tusita heaven after 
preaching the Law to his mother. The gods pre- 
pared three ladders, the tops of which reached to 
the heavens and rested against the summit of the 
Mienmo mountain. As Buddha descended the 
middle ladder in company with heavenly spirits, 
fanning him, playing the harp, and shading him with 
a golden parasol, he allowed the six glories to 
stream forth from his body to the people below, who 
witnessed the wonderful sight with astonishment 
and joy. 2 

In calling this incident a transfiguration on a 
mount, Mr. Lillie lays himself open to the charge of 
exaggerating. He also seems to overlook the fact 
that while the story of the descent from heaven by 
the triple ladder is undoubtedly prechristian, the 
transfiguration incident, being found solely in the 
Burmese Life of BnddJia, is not free from the grave 
suspicion of being of comparatively recent origin. 3 

1 Influence, p. 63. 

2 Cf. Bigandet, Op. cit. I. p. 225. 

3 In his Buddhism in Christendom, p. 191, he wronglv gives Rock- 
hill as an additional authority. In the Life of Buddha by the latter. 
p. 81, the descent of Buddha is related, but no mention is made of 
the brilliant rays emitted from his body. 



CHAPTER III 

ANACHRONISMS 

Resemblances drawn from Buddhist sources plainly prechristian, 
alone legitimate in the present comparison — Kanishka's conquest 
of Northern India in 7S A. D. the probable cause of separation of 
the Buddhists of the North from those of the South : hence Bud- 
dhist parallels not known to both Northern and Southern schools 
are of doubtful prechristian origin — Further means of control 
afforded by the different early versions of the Buddha-legend — 
Anachronisms — The genealogy of Buddha — The presenta- 
tion of the infant Buddha in the temple — The corresponding 
Gospel story not out of harmony with Jewish custom — The school- 
scene — The gift of tongues — The augmenting of food at the 
marriage-feast — Lamentation of women over Buddha's corpse — 
The Chinese variant — Buddha's descent into hell — The Bud- 
dhist parable of the lost son — Parallels to John, viii. 57, and to 
Matthew, v. 28 — Sadhu — Lamaistic resemblances to certain feat- 
ures of Catholicism — The Kwanyin liturgy — The swastika. 

THE three writers under review argue very 
largely on the principle that, since Buddhism 
is more ancient than Christianity, every resemblance 
which the former offers to Christian rites and Chris- 
tian teachings may be used to show the indebtedness 
of the Gospels to the religion of Buddha. A more 
glaring sophism could hardly be employed. It 
would be like arguing that because the Jewish and 
Brahman religions are older than Buddhism, the 



212 Buddhism and Christianity 

contents of the Maccabees and of the Ramayana 
antedate what is oldest in the Buddhist scriptures. 
In Buddhism, as in other historic religions, there has 
been a gradual growth of legendary and doctrinal 
speculations. In its sacred literature much that is 
comparatively recent has found a place side by side 
with what is truly ancient. And hence it is a dic- 
tate of sound criticism that, in a comparison estab- 
lished to show the possibility of Buddhist influence 
on Christian thought, all resemblances must be with- 
held that cannot be traced to Buddhist sources 
plainly prechristian. 

Now it happens that a fairly reliable means is at 
hand of discerning in Buddhist literature what may 
rightly be credited with an antiquity greater than 
that of the Gospels. It is the comparison of the 
scriptures held sacred by the Northern and Southern 
schools. 

The unacquaintance of the Southern school with 
Council of Kashmir, held under King Kanishka, 
shows that at the close of the first century of the 
Christian era, the Buddhists of the South were already 
cut off from those of the North. There is every 
reason to believe that this separation was due pri- 
marily to political and not to religious causes. 

Down to the time of Kanishka, the prevailing 
form of Buddhism in Northern India was practically 
identical with what was professed in the South. In 
both parts, the religion was derived from Magadha, 



Anachronisms 2 1 3 

being the fruit of the Buddhist propaganda inspired 
by Asoka and continued under his successors. The 
Ceylonese tradition of the monks from the Northern 
countries coming in great numbers to take part in 
the dedication of the Mahathupa, erected by King 
Duttha Gamini, 1 bears witness that in the latter part 
of the second century B. C, the North and South 
were still in close communion. Nor do we find any 
religious cause for a separation in the next two 
centuries. It is true, the internal unity of the Bud- 
dhist order was disturbed by many dissenting schools, 
but this state of things existed from the beginning 
and characterized Buddhism wherever it existed. 2 
No growing division, however, between North and 
South was yet discernible. The Mahayana school 
was still insignificant. It was only long after the 
establishment of Kanishka's empire that this school 
supplanted the earlier form of Buddhism in the 
North. In the absence, then, of an adequate relig- 
ious cause, the separation of the Buddhists of the 
North from those of the South finds its natural 
explanation in the conquest of Northern India 
by Kanishka in 78 A. D. The separation was thus 
at first political. The subsequent spread of the 
Mahayana innovations throughout the empire to the 
absorption of the ancient faith gave rise to the great 
schism of the Northern school. 

1 Cf. Tumour, Mahawanso, p. 171. ' 

2 Even in Asoka's day, there were no less than seventeen minor 
dissensions. 



214 Buddhism and Christianity 

This point is of great importance, for it enables 
us to determine with considerable precision those 
Buddhist parallels that have no solid claim to an age 
as great as their corresponding Christian analogies. 
For it is plain that only what is common to the 
two schools can be traced back with certainty to the 
time of their separation. 1 

It would be rash to assert on the other hand that 

1 The mistake is commonly made of taking the Buddha-legend 
to be in all its details as old as the Bharhut stupa, whose sculptures 
date, according to Cunningham, 250-200 B. C , according to Fergusson, 
200-150 B. C. (Dr. Hultzsch of the Archaeological Survey maintains 
that they belong to the second or third century B. C. Cf. his article, 
The Bharhaut Inscriptions, in the Indian Antiquary, XXI. p. 225.) 
But the only features of the biography to which these sculptures 
bear witness are the descent of Buddha into his mother in the form 
of an elephant, the triple ladder by which he came down from heaven 
after preaching to the gods, the gift of the Jetavana monastery, India 
Sala-guha, and, possibly, the scene of the rishis arrested in their 
flight on the occasion of the ploughing-match. Cf. A. Cunningham, 
The Stnpa of Bharhut, London, 1S79, P- J 4- What the extent of the 
Buddha-legend was at that early period is impossible to say with any 
degree of certainty. In all probability, it was very meagre. Not a 
few writers have appealed to the Sanchi sculptures in evidence of the 
existence in Asoka's day of the story of Buddha's temptation and 
other features of the legend. Among these are Mr. Lillie {Buddha 
and Early Buddhism, p. iS), Professor Seydel (Op. cit. p. 98), and 
Professor Beal {Romantic Legend, p. vii.; Catena of Buddhist 
Scriptures, -p. 6, 131) ; in like manner Professor Kern (Manual of 
Indian Buddhism, p. 2) and Rhys Davids (Buddhist Birth Stories, 
p. lix) base the antiquity of the Jatakas on the sculptures of Sanchi 
as well as those of Bharhut. They confound the age 'of the stupa 
itself (third, perhaps fifth century, B. c.) with that of the gateways 
(first century a. D.) on which the sculptured scenes from the Buddha- 
legend are found. Cf. Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship, p. 100; 
A. Cunningham, The Bhilsa Topes, p. 270. 



Anachronisms 2 1 5 

all those features that are the distinctive and exclusive 
possession of either school have arisen after 78 A. D. 
The possibility cannot be denied of a legend having 
a local existence from prechristian times in a Bud- 
dhist locality of Northern India, and being unknown 
to the Southern school, or vice versa. But such a 
possibility does not give sufficient probability to any 
particular parallel to justify its use in the argument 
under criticism. Moreover, in the great majority of 
parallels peculiar to Northern Buddhism, there is a 
further means of control. For as most of them are 
pretended incidents in the life of Buddha, 'their 
absence from the earlier known forms of the Buddha- 
legend, where we have a right to expect them, be- 
trays the fact that they are later accretions to the 
ancient biography. On the other hand, all parallels 
found only in the literature of the Southern school 
may be cast aside, since it is only through the Bud- 
dhists of the North that Christianity could well have 
been affected. 1 

Applying these principles, we find a goodly 
number of anachronisms in the comparisons insti- 
tuted by the writers under review. 

( 1 ) Mr. Lillie,' 2 following Professor Seydel's ex- 

1 It might be objected that the Milinda Panha, though composed 
in Northwest India about the time of Christ, has no place in North- 
ern Buddhist literature. But this is an exception that bears out the 
rule. Being a flat contradiction of the teachings of the Mahayana 
school, this work was destined to be ignored wherever Mahayana 
doctrine gained exclusive recognition. 

2 Influence of Buddhism on Prim. Christianity, p. 24. 



216 Buddhism and Christianity 

ample, 1 notes that the genealogy of Christ is paral- 
leled by one that is applied to Buddha. But, aside 
from the fact that the very commonness of genealogies 
among the Jews is enough to explain why one should 
be recounted of Christ, the genealogy of Buddha is 
a topic that is not to be found in the Northern Bud- 
dhist scriptures at all, and even in the Southern school, 
is drawn from sources too late to merit considera- 
tion. The authority to which Mr. Lillie appeals, the 
Dipavansa, is a Ceylonese work of a date not much 
earlier than 400 A. D. 2 

( 2) Great stress is laid on the Buddhist parable to 
the Gospel story of the presentation of the infant 
Saviour in the temple. In the eighth chapter of 
the Lalita Vistara, we read that when the child 
Buddha was borne in an immense procession of 
warriors, maids, and deities to the temple of the 
gods to give them worship, their images prostrated 
themselves at his feet to show that he was the 
greatest of all beings. 

Mr. Bunsen, 3 who gratuitously combines with this 
incident the story of Buddha's precocity, also asserts, 
without a particle of authority, that the incident took 
place when the child was twelve years of age. 

1 Op. cit. p. 105. 

- Cf. 5. B. E. X. p. xiii. 

3 Op. cit. p. 37. His words are worth quoting as a specimen of 
his utterly unfair and misleading presentation of alleged Buddhist 
resemblances. " When twelve years old, the child is presented in 
the temple, on which occasion forthwith all statues rise and throw 



Anachronisms 217 

Mr. Lillie, 1 in order to give a greater show of 
substance to this very shadowy parallel, has recourse 
to the legend in the apocryphal Gospel of the In- 
fancy, that the presence of Mary and the infant Jesus 
in a village of Egypt caused a certain idol to fall 
prostrate from its pedestal, a tale that smacks rather 
of the Old Testament story of the prostration of the 
idol Dagon in the presence of the ark.' 2 

Professor Seydel 3 finds this parallel so striking 
that he reckons it as one of the five pieces of evi- 
dence that point unmistakably to the indebtedness 
of the Gospels to Buddhist scriptures. He calls 
attention to the natural fitness of the story in the 
Buddha-legend, whereas in the Gospel, despite the 
statement of the evangelist, there was no reason for 
presenting the child Jesus in the temple. But this 
objection is of little weight. According to the law 
of Moses, the first-born son of every household had 
to be redeemed at the price of five shekels of the 
sanctuary, and every mother, after giving birth to a 
child, had to make an offering of purification. Now 
though the presence in the temple of neither child 
nor mother was indispensable for the fulfilment of 
these rites, yet, as Edersheim has pointed out in his 

themselves at his feet, even the statues of Indra and Brahma. He 
explains and asks learned questions ; he excels all those who enter 
into competition with him. Yet he waits till he has reached his 
thirtieth year before teaching in public, surrounded by his disciples." 

1 Buddhism in Christendom , p. 29. Influence, p. 27. 

2 I Kings, v. 1 if. 3 Op. cit. p. 146. 



21 8 Buddhism and Christianity 

excellent Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah} 
" mothers who were within convenient distance of 
the temple, and especially the more earnest among 
them, would naturally attend personally in the 
temple; and in such cases, when practicable, the 
redemption of the first-born and the purification of 
his mother would be combined." 

But even if the parallel were much closer than it 
really is, it would have to be rejected as an unques- 
tionable anachronism. For, first of all, it forms no 
part of the ancient legend as known to the Southern 
school, and hence has no respectable claim to an age 
as old as the Gospels. And in the second place, it is 
absent from all the earlier versions known to the 
Northern school. It is not to be found in the Bud- 
dha Charita, nor in any of the Chinese versions of 
the Buddha-legend belonging to the first three cen- 
turies. There is thus good reason for not assigning to 
this parallel an origin earlier than the third century. 2 

(3) One of Mr. Lillie's most cherished parallels 3 
is the school-scene in the tenth chapter of the Lalita 
Vistara} where the boy Gotama, taken to the hall 
of writing with a splendid escort of ten thousand 
children and a hundred thousand girls, in a shower 

1 B. II. ch. vii. 

2 For the same reason, the Lalita Vistara in its present form, at 
least, cannot be credited with an age greater than the third century. 

3 Influence, p. 30. Professor Seydel makes use of it as well, 
Op. cit. p. 149. 

4 It is found also in the Romantic legend, ch. xi. 



Anachronisms 219 

of flowers and to the sound of one hundred thousand 
instruments of music, astonishes the schoolmaster by 
enumerating sixty-four different kinds of writing, and 
by explaining how every letter of the alphabet should 
be pronounced. Mr. Lillie shows how strikingly 
similar is the exhibition of precocity ascribed to the 
child Jesus in the twentieth chapter of the First Gos- 
pel of the Infancy, where he puts to shame His master 
Zacchaeus by the wisdom He displays in setting 
forth the meaning of every letter of the alphabet. 

The irrelevancy of seeking in apocryphal writings 
resemblances to points of Buddhist lore has already 
been shown. But apart from this, the priority of the 
Buddhist parable is open to serious misgivings. In 
the first place, the story could not have arisen much 
before the Christian era, for it presupposes on the 
part of the people of India not only the compara- 
tively late custom of teaching the youth the art of 
reading and writing, but also, what must have been 
later still, a wide-spread acquaintance with very 
many different kinds of alphabets. 

Though the knowledge of letters in India is 
probably as ancient as the century in which Buddha 
was born, yet the use of writing for literary purposes 
seems to have come into vogue only in the last two 
or three centuries preceding the birth of Christ. The 
older Vinaya texts, which describe minutely the 
daily life of the monks and the furnishings of their 
rooms, make no mention of writing or of the instru- 



220 Buddhism and Christianity 

merits of writing. It was only in the century pre- 
ceding the Christian era that the sacred traditions of 
Buddhism were first committed to manuscript. 1 

In Asoka's day, but two forms of writing seem to 
have prevailed in India, the Ariano-Pali, common to 
Bactria and Northwest India, and the Indo-Pali, 
peculiar to the inscriptions in the other parts of his 
vast realm. Not till long after his time could the 
story have been invented which ascribes to Gotama 
and his contemporaries a knowledge of many diverse 
forms of writing. 

Among the sixty-four different kinds of alphabets 
which the youthful Gotama enumerates, the Chinese 

1 Cf. Max Muller, Hist, of Anc. Sansk. Lit., pp. 507 ff. ; Weber, 
Indische Studien, V. pp. 18 ff. ; Oldenberg, Ancient India, its Language 
and Religions, Chicago, 1S96, p 22. The alphabet from which all 
existing forms of Indian writing have been developed, is that em- 
ployed by Asoka in all his inscriptions save that of Kapur-di-giri in 
the Northwest. The origin of this alphabet, variously styled Indo- 
Pali, Magadhi, Maurya, Asoka, is disputed. Some scholars, as Prin- 
sep, Wilson, Senart, Halevy, derive it from Greek sources. Others, 
as Lassen, Cunningham, Dowson, pronounce it of native origin. But 
the most probable opinion is that it is a development of a Semitic 
script, Sabaean or Babylonian, which seems to have been introduced 
into India by merchants about the sixth century B.C. So Weber, 
.Max Muller, Biihler, Lenormant, and others. Cf. Isaac Taylor, The 
Alphabet, an Account of the Origin and Development of Letters. 
London, 1883. Vol. II. pp. 304 ff. 

The alphabet of the Kapur-di-giri inscription, generally known as 
Ariano-Pali, is identical with the script of most of the Indo-Bactrian 
coins. It is of Iranian (Aramaean) origin and was probably introduced 
into the Panjab in the fifth century, B.C., soon after the country was 
reduced to a satrapy under the dominion of Darius. Cf. Taylor, 
Op. cit. pp. 256 ff. 



Anachronisms 221 

writing is mentioned. It is very likely that the 
knowledge of the Chinese became popular in North- 
ern India through the embassy sent by Ming-ti in 
62 A. D. Thus, from internal evidence alone, there is 
good reason for suspecting that this legend did not 
take form till some time after the birth of Christ. 

This suspicion becomes confirmed when we exam- 
ine the biography known to Southern Buddhists, and 
find this legend wanting. Nor is it present in the 
earliest story of Buddha's life belonging to the 
Northern canon, the Buddha Charita, which would 
in all probability have made room for the legend had 
it existed at that time, for it notes the precocity of 
the youthful Gotama. 

"When he had passed the period of childhood and 
reached that of middle youth, the young prince learned in a 
few days the various sciences suitable to his race, which 
generally took many years to master." x 

The earliest Buddhist work in which the legend is 
mentioned is the Chinese life of Buddha translated 
in the year 194 A. D.' 2 But the corresponding legend 
about the precocity of the boy Jesus was already 
known in the Roman empire at this time, for Irenaeus 
of Lyons in his work Adversus Hcereses, b. i. ch. xx. 
(written in the time that Eleutherus was bishop of 
Rome, 177-190), taxes the Gnostic heretics for 
teaching this very fable about our Lord. This im- 

1 Op. cit. ii. 24. 2 Cf. S. B. E. XIX. p. xvii. 



222 Buddhism and Christianity- 

plies that the legend must have been known to the 
Gnostics as early as the middle of the second cen- 
tury, and, perhaps, even earlier. The priority of the 
Buddhist parallel is thus, to say the least, very 
uncertain. 

(4) Professor Seydel 1 calls attention to the strik- 
ing similarity of the story of the miraculous gift of 
tongues told of Saint Peter in the second chapter of 
the Acts of the Apostles and that attributed to Bud- 
dha at the preaching of his first sermon at Benares. 
The gods and heavenly beings were there as well as 
men ; and though Buddha spoke the language of 
Magadha, they all thought that he was speaking in 
the tongue with which each one was familiar. 

Since this incident is absent from the accounts of 
Buddha's sermon as told in all the early forms of the 
story of his life, and since the earliest authority it en- 
joys is the Pujawaliya, a Ceylonese work of the 
thirteenth century, 2 it has no legitimate place in a 
comparison instituted to show the presence of Bud- 
dhist thought in Christian teaching. 

(5) The same fatal objection applies to the use 
which Mr. Lillie 3 makes of the story of Buddha mul- 
tiplying food at a marriage feast. The story is not 
found in the scriptures of the Southern school at all, 
nor in the early biographies of the Northern canon. 

1 Op. cit. p. 248. 

2 Cf. R. S. Hardy, Manual of Budhism, p. 187, also p. 518. 
8 Influence, p. 60. 



Anachronisms 223 

Its only authority is the Chinese version of the sixth 
century, the Romantic Legend of Sakya Buddha. 

(6) " The newly discovered fragments of the 
Gospel of Peter," says the same writer, 1 " gives strik- 
ing evidence of the haphazard way in which extracts 
from the Buddhist books seem to have been sprinkled 
among the Gospels. It records that Mary Magdalen, 
' taking with her her friends,' went to the sepulchre 
of Jesus to ' place themselves beside Him and per- 
form the rites ' of wailing, beating breasts, etc. 
Amrapali and other courtesans did the same rites 
to Buddha, and the disciples were indignant that 
impure women should have ' washed his dead body 
with their tears.' (Rockhill, Tibetan Life, p. 153.) " 

In this passage we have a further instance of Mr. 
Lillie's looseness of thought and recklessness of as- 
sertion. First of all, it is to be noted that what he 
pretends to draw from Mr. Rockhill's Life of the 
Buddha is to be found there only in part. Not a 
word is said about Amrapali and other courtesans. 
All that we are told is that at the council of Rajagriha, 
the venerable Kasyapa declared Ananda unworthy of 
taking part in the proceedings, because on several oc- 
casions he had acted wrongly. One of his faults is thus 
told. " Moreover, thou didst show to corrupt women 
the golden body of the Blessed One, which was then 
sullied by their tears." 

Now, even if this alleged parallel were prechristian, 

1 Influence, p. 66. 



224 Buddhism and Christianity- 

it would be far from justifying the conclusion which 
Mr. Lillie draws. But to base its antiquity on a 
Tibetan tradition betrays a still greater lack of judg- 
ment, the more so, as the primitive form of the story, 
which exists in the canonical scriptures, and which 
alone can be accounted prechristian, offers no ground 
for a parallel at all. 

In the Book of the Great Decease, we are told that 
the Mallas of Kusinara, having learned that Buddha 
was about to pass away, came in deep grief with their 
wives and children, to see him for the last time, and 
were admitted by Ananda in family groups into the 
presence of his dying master. 1 

It is in allusion to this incident that at the council 
of Rajagriha, the following charge was made against 
Ananda by some of his brother monks: 

" This, also, friend Ananda, was ill done by thee, in that 
thou causedst the body of the Blessed One to be saluted by 
women first, so that by their weeping, the body of the 
Blessed One was defiled by tears. Confess that fault." 2 

(7) It is from this same source that the Chinese 
Buddhists derived their story of a woman weeping 
over the body of Buddha and moistening his feet with 
her tears. It was found by Professor Beal in a Chinese 
version of uncertain date and mentioned in his Abstract 
of Four Lectures on Buddhist Literature? Curious 

1 S. B. E. XI. p. 103. 

2 Chullavagga, xi. I, 10. — S. B. E. XX. p. 379. 

3 PP- 75 an d J 65- 



Anachronisms 225 

to note, Mr. Bunsen x seized upon this as the proto- 
type of the Gospel story of the penitent woman bath- 
ing in tears the feet of Jesus. It is plain that this 
parallel, like the preceding, must be rejected as an 
anachronism. 

(8) Mr. Lillie 2 informs us that " Buddha, like 
Christ, preached to the spirits in prison. . . . The 
Chinese hold that every thousand years, Buddha, 
in the form of a beautiful young man, goes down 
to the hell Avichi, and clears that region of 
suffering." 

Since this doctrine, which is wholly out of joint 
with the teaching of Buddha, is unknown to the Bud- 
dhism of India, and is nothing else than a late pro- 
duct of Chinese speculation, it is hard to see how it 
could have exerted any influence on the formation of 
early Christian dogma. 

(9) The beautiful Gospel parable of the prodigal 
son is not allowed to pass unchallenged. Both Pro- 
fessor Seydel 3 and Mr. Lillie 4 call attention to a 
corresponding story in a canonical book of the North- 
ern school. In the fourth chapter of the Lotus of the 
True Law, Buddha's disciples, overjoyed at the pros- 
pect of being predestined to supreme enlightenment, 
illustrate their unexpected good fortune by a parable. 
A poor wanderer, after an absence of many years, 
comes without knowing it to his father's home. The 

1 Op. cit p. 49. 2 Buddhism in Christendom, p. 189. 

3 Op. cit. p. 230. 4 Influence, p. 70. 

IS 



226 Buddhism and Christianity 

simple shelter of former days has given place to a 
splendid palace, where the father lives in princely 
magnificence. As the son approaches, he see the 
lord of the mansion, whom he little suspects to be his 
father, seated like a king on a throne surrounded by 
many attendants. Frightened by so much splendor, 
he turns aside and hastens off. But the father, recog- 
nizing his long lost son, sends after him. Unwilling 
to make himself known before the son has given proof 
of his fitness for a life of wealth and refinement, he 
engages him to labor in his fields at double wages. 
He lives in a rude hut, faithfully performing the 
menial tasks assigned him, till his merit becomes 
thoroughly tested. Then his father, inwardly rejoic- 
ing to find his son so worthy, but not yet ready to 
make himself known, raises him to a position of honor, 
and bids him feel as a son in the house of his father. 
In this condition he lives for many years, till at length 
the father, feeling his end approaching, summons the 
king and nobles, and declaring the astonished ser- 
vant to be his own son, makes him heir of all his 
possessions. 

Even if this story were of prechristian origin, it is 
too unlike that of the prodigal son, both in outline and 
in purpose, to deserve the name of a parallel. But 
there is not a fragment of evidence that the Lotus of 
the True Law, in which alone it is found, is as old as 
the gospel of St. JoJin. Professor Seydel himself, 
while inclined to give the book as early a date as 



Anachronisms 227 

possible, has to content himself with the vague esti- 
mate of " before 200 A.D." l There is a Chinese tradi- 
tion 2 that the book was translated into Chinese at 
the close of the second century of the Christian era, 
but this testimony is contradicted by the Chinese 
Catalogue of the Tri-pithaka, which states that the 
oldest Chinese translation of the work was made by 
Chu-fa-hu, of the Western Tsin dynasty, A.D. 265-3 16. 3 
From internal and external evidence, the most that 
can be reliably made out is that about 250 A.D. the 
work vvas in existence in its present form, and that 
chapters i.-xx. and xxvii., which constituted the work 
originally, are earlier still. But how much earlier, 
there is no positive ground for determining. Pro- 
fessor Kern thinks the original form may be 'some 
centuries earlier than 250 A.D., but this is pure 
conjecture. 4 

It is plain that a book which cannot be assigned 
with certainty to a date as early as 200 A. D. is not a 
legitimate source to draw from in trying to prove the 
dependence of the Gospels on Buddhist thought. 

(10) In like manner, the authorit)' of the Lotus of 
the True Law does not justify the use of the parallel 
which both Professor Seydel 6 and Mr. Lillie 6 find to 

1 Op. cit. p. IOC. 2 Edkins, Chinese Buddhism, p. 89. 

8 S. B. £. XXI. p. xx. * Cf. S. B. E. XXI. p. xxii. 

5 Op. cit. p. 167. 

6 Influence, p 62. "In the White Lotus of Dharma (ch. xiv.), 
Buddha is asked how it is that, having sat under the Bo-tree only forty 
years ago, he has been able, according to his boast, to see many 



228 Buddhism and Christianity 

the question put to Jesus by the doubting Pharisees : 
" Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen 
Abraham? " 

(n) The Book of Parables by Buddhaghosa is, as 
we have already seen, a Ceylonese work of the fifth 
century. Yet this is the authority on which Mr. Lillie 1 
relies to attribute to Buddha himself the statement so 
like Matthew, v. 28, that the law to shun adultery " is 
broken by even looking at the wife of another with 
lustful mind." 

(12) Here is another characteristic effusion from 
the same writer: 2 — "On one point, I have been 
a little puzzled. The pass-word of the Buddhist 
wanderers was Sadhu ! which does not seem to 
correspond with the Pax Vobiscum ! (Mat. x. 13) 
of Christ's disciples. But I have just come across 
a passage in Renan (Les Apotres, p. 22) which 
shows that the Hebrew word was Shalom ! {bon- 
heur!) This is almost a literal translation of Sadhu ! " 

The value of this remarkable discovery would 
be greatly enhanced if we did not find this form 
of salutation in very ancient books of the Old 
Testament. 3 

(13) To this category of anachronisms belongs 

Buddhas and saints who died hundreds of years previously. He an- 
swers that he has lived many hundred thousand myriads of Kotis, and 
that, though in the form of a Buddha, he is in reality Swayambhu, 
the Self-Existent, the Father of the million worlds." 

1 Influence, p. 51. - Ibid. p. 47. 

8 Genesis, xliii. 23. Judges, vi. 23 ; xix. 20, and elsewhere. 



Anachronisms 229 

one which is, perhaps, the grossest of all, and which 
docs not shield Mr. Lillie from the imputation of cul- 
pable ignorance because it has been committed by 
men whose reputation for scholarship is far greater 
than his own. 1 It is the attempt to prove, from cer- 
tain mutual points of contact, the wholesale importa- 
tion into Roman Catholicism of Lamaistic rites and 
customs. 

One of the early champions of this thesis was Mr. 
Henry Prinsep, 2 who, drawing chiefly from the Abbe 
Hue's well-known book of travels, brought out, in 
1 85 1, a small volume entitled, Tibet, Tartary, and 
Mongolia. This book, which has but little scientific 
worth, is chiefly known to-day for its oft-quoted pas- 
sage 3 enumerating the resemblances between Lama- 
ism and Catholicism that Father Grueber, a Jesuit 
missionary of the seventeenth century, remarked in 
his journey through Tibet. This passage Mr. Lillie 4 
does not fail to reproduce, nor does he forget the 
equally well-known testimony of the Abbe Hue. 5 
Having thus shown by unimpeachable witnesses the 
many points in which the two religions agree, — the 
monastic system, with its obligations of poverty, 
chastity, and obedience, the tonsure, the fasts, the 
annual period of retreat and meditation, the venera- 

1 Cf. J. Fergusson, Rude Stone Monuments, p. 502. 

2 Not to be confounded with the eminent scholar, James Prinsep. 

3 Op. cit. p. 14. i Influence, pp. 174-175. 

5 Travels in Tartary, Tibet, and China, II. ch. 2. Vide supra, 
p. 150. 



230 Buddhism and Christianity 

tion of saints and relics, the use of bells and rosaries, 
prayers and offerings for the dead, sacramental con- 
fession, baptism, offering of consecrated food on an 
altar, the use of holy water and incense, of crosier, 
mitre, dalmatic, cope, the processions, litanies, service 
with double choir, a graded hierarchy ruled by a 
supreme head, — he draws the conclusion that the 
Catholic Church, being less ancient than Buddhism, 
must have borrowed with full hands from its Tibetan 
neighbor. 

In this remarkable piece of sophistry, Mr. Lillie 
seems to overlook the very important point that 
primitive Buddhism is one thing, and Lamaistic 
Buddhism is another. Far from being ancient, Lama- 
ism, as has already been shown, took its rise only in 
the Middle Ages, having been developed by a slow 
process of modification from the Buddhism of North- 
ern India, introduced into Tibet by Srong-tsan 
Sgam-po in the seventh century. Long before Lama- 
ism had an existence, the resemblances enumerated 
above, with the single exception of the rosary, were 
prominent features, not only of the Latin church, but 
of the Greek and other Oriental churches as well. 
Of course, it cannot be denied that those points of 
contact in Lamaism which were derived from early 
Buddhism have an antiquity much greater than their 
Christian parallels. Such are the monastic system, the 
use of bells, rosaries, the veneration of saints, relics, 
and images, and pilgrimages to holy places. The 



Anachronisms 231 

question whether these have any historical connection 
with the similar elements to be found in Catholicism 
is practically one with the larger question of the pos- 
sible influence of Buddhism on Christianity. To this 
question Lamaism has nothing to say. As for the 
remaining resemblances, which were not derived from 
early Buddhism, and which are distinctively Lamaistic, 
the priority of Catholic rites and practices is too 
plainly taught by history to be made the subject of 
discussion. It is idle, therefore, to establish a com- 
parison between Catholicism and Lamaism, as if the 
points of contact could be made to prejudice the 
claims of the Catholic Church. 1 Nor is there any call 
on the latter to demonstrate the way in which Lama- 
ism came to possess these resemblances. Still, a very 
natural and plausible explanation is afforded by Nes- 
torianism, which presents the same points of contact 
with the Buddhism of Tibet, and which is known to 
have exerted a widespread influence in Eastern Asia 
even as far as China itself, during the very period in 
which Lamaism was taking form. 2 

1 Cf. K. F. Koppen, Die Religion des Buddha, I. pp. 561 ff. and II. 
p. 116. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, p. 250. Hibbert Lectures on Bud- 
dhism, pp. 192-195. 

- J. Fergusson (A'ude Stone Monuments, p. 503), Max Miiller {New 
Review, IV. p. 6S),and Andrew White {History of the Warfare of Sci- 
ence with Theology, N. Y. 1S96, II. p. 381), ascribe to the Abbe Hue 
the explanation that Lamaism was a cunning invention of Satan, de- 
vised to ape the true religion of God. Had they taken the pains to 
read his interesting chapter on this subject {Travels, II. ch. 2), they 
would not have committed this injustice to the genial and large- 
minded author. 



232 Buddhism and Christianity 

(14) As a supplement to the last anachronism, 
and as a further instance of Mr. Lillie's method of 
arguing, observe what he says : of the Kwan-Yin 
liturgy, the existence of which cannot be traced 
beyond the beginning of the fifteenth century. 

" This is what the Rev. S. Beal, a chaplain in the 
navy, wrote of a liturgy that he found in China : — 
' The form of this office is a very curious one. It 
bears a singular likeness in its outline to the common 
type of the Eastern Christian liturgies. That is to 
say, there is an " Proanaphoral " and an " anaphoral " 
portion. There is a prayer of entrance, a prayer of 
incense, an inscription of praise to the threefold 
object, a prayer of oblation, the lections, the recita- 
tions of the Dharani, the Embolismus or prayer 
against temptation, followed by a " Confession " and 
a " Dismissal." ' (Catena of Buddhist Scriptures, 

P- 397)-" 

The following is the continuation of the subject, 
which Mr. Lillie found convenient to ignore : " The 
early arrival of the Nestorian Christians in China 
would be quite sufficient to account for this gen- 
eral resemblance, particularly if we recollect that 
the same emperor, Ta'e Tsung, who was the great 
patron of Buddhism, was also the protector of the 
new missionaries, who in consequence were able to 
build churches and establish themselves as a recog- 

1 Influence, p. 176. 



Anachronisms 233 

nized body of religious worshippers in several parts 
of the empire." * 

(15) The use of the cruciform swastika in the 
Christian catacombs is sometimes brought forward 
as evidence of the borrowing by early Christians of 
a Buddhist symbol. 2 But it is to be borne in mind 
that this ancient symbol, far from being distinctively 
Buddhist, was known to the peoples of Italy, Greece, 
and other parts of Europe long before Buddhism 
took form. 3 

1 Catena, pp. 397-39S. For the derivation of the Chinese female 
Kwan-Yin holding the child, from the Virgin Mother and Child. Cf. 
p. 412 of the same work. 

2 Buddhism in Christendom, p. 213. 

3 Cf. A. Bertrand, La religion des Gaidois. Paris, 1897, pp. 143 ff. 
The value of this work is greatly diminished by its many ill-founded 
speculations. Cf. also Henry Schliemann, Ilios, The City and 
Country of the Trojans. N. Y., 1SS1, pp. 345 ff. Robert P. Gregg, 
The Meaning and Origin of the Fylfot and Swastika. — Archaologia 
Britannica, 1885, pp. 292 ff. Ludwig Miiller, L'emploi et la significa- 
tion dans Vanliquite du signe dit crois gamme. Copenhagen, 1877. 
Thos. Wilson, The Stuastika, the earliest known Symbol and its 
Migrations. Washington, 1896. Goblet d'Alviella, La migration des 
symboles. Paris, 1891. Ch. ii. The latter is of the opinion that the 
swastika was introduced into India from Greece or Asia Minor about 
the fifth century B. c. There is good reason, however, to hold with 
Gregg, Miiller, and others that it was a common inheritance of the 
Indo-European peoples from their Aryan ancestors. It seems 
originally to have been a sun-symbol. 



CHAPTER IV 

FICTIONS 

Vain attempts to find a Buddhist parallel to the Holy Ghost — Maya 
not a virgin — Spurious parallels to the angelic announcements 
to Mary and to Joseph — The star in the East — Buddha not born 
on Christmas-day — Pretended counterparts to the offerings of 
the Magi — Bimbisara not the prototype of Herod — Habba not 
synonymous with Tathagata — Lack of resemblance between the 
story of the lost child Jesus and the Jambu-tree incident — Pre- 
tended baptism of Buddha — Untenableness of the statement that 
Buddha and Christ began to preach at the same age — The 
Bodhi-tree incident not the source of the story of Nathaniel and 
the fig-tree — The Gospel incident of the man born blind inde- 
pendent of the Buddhist notion of karma — Yasa not the proto- 
type of Nicodemus — Lack of resemblance between Buddha's 
entry into Rajagriha and Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem 
— The Last Supper of Jesus wholly unlike the final meal of 
Buddha — Unwarranted ascription to Buddha of words spoken by 
Christ — Spurious Buddhist parallels to the abandonment of 
Jesus by His disciples, to the thief on the cross, to the parting 
of Christ's garments, to the resurrection, to Matthew, v. 29, and 
xiii. 45. 

IN a comparison between Buddhism and Christian- 
ity, such as is made by the writers under review, 
one has a right to demand that none but genuine 
resemblances should be taken into account. It is 
plain that fancied parallels, or, in other words, fictions, 
should have no place in an argument that pretends 



Fictions 235 

to rise above sophistry. That the writers in question 
have gravely compromised themselves in this respect, 
the following list of fictions will show. 

( I ) " Conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of'the 
Virgin Maya." Such is the heading which Mr. 
Bunsen ' gives to a passage in which he tries to es- 
tablish parallels in the Buddhist scriptures to the 
Gospel story of the miraculous conception and the 
virgin-birth of Jesus. In this objectionable use of 
texts from Christian ritual and Holy Scripture, he 
has been zealously imitated by both Professor Seydel 
and Mr. Lillie, in whose works almost every parallel, 
however far-fetched, is prefaced by a Gospel phrase 
or sentence. 

It takes no little boldness to try to find in Bud- 
dhism what is recognized by all competent scholars 
to be an absolute contradiction to Buddhist teaching, 
namely, a genuine counterpart to the Christian idea 
of the Holy Spirit. Yet all three writers have at- 
tempted it with as many different results. Accord- 
ing to Mr. Bunsen, 2 the Buddhist equivalent to the 
Holy Ghost is karma, though of this he seems not to 
be quite sure, for, in another place, he identifies the 
Holy Ghost with the spirit of the Bodhi-tree ! 3 

Professor Seydel 4 holds it to be Maitreya, the 
future Buddha of love, now reigning as a Bodhisattva 
in the Tusita heaven. But while applying to Gotama 

1 Op. cit. p. 33. - Ibid. p. 26. 

3 Ibid. p. 42. 4 Op. Cit. p. 263. 



236 Buddhism and Christianity 

Buddha the phrase borrowed from Mr. Bunsen, 
" Conceived by the Holy Ghost," he shrewdly avoids 
the ridiculous, though consistent, conclusion that it 
was through the agency of Maitreya that Buddha's 
conception was effected. 

Mr. Lillie 1 inclines to the view that the Buddhist 
Holy Spirit is the Dharma, the Law, which he dis- 
covers to be the very equivalent of the Greek Sophia. 

On opinions like these no comment is needed. 

In declaring that Buddha, like Christ, was con- 
ceived by the Holy Ghost, Mr. Bunsen is not dis- 
concerted by the utter absence of testimony in the 
Sanskrit and Pali scriptures. His authority is a 
Chinese version, in which he made the remarkable 
discovery that " it was the Holy Spirit, or Shing-shin, 
which descended on the Virgin Maya." 2 

This method of resorting to foreign versions for 
parallels that have no existence in the original Bud- 
dhist scriptures is unfortunately too much in favor 
with all the writers under review. But in this in- 
stance, Mr. Bunsen has made the additional blunder 
of giving to the text a meaning which it plainly does 
not bear. The Chinese version from which he drew 
his fanciful notion is the one which Professor Beal 
has summarized in the Introduction to volume XIX. 
of the Sacred Books of the East. There, to be sure, 
p. xix, the word Shing-shin occurs; but, as the con- 
text clearly shows, it means nothing else than the 

1 Influence, p. 172. 2 Op. cit. p. 23- 



Fictions 237 

pure spirit of Buddha himself, which entered the side 
of Maya in the form of an elephant. 

(2) Equally unfounded is the assertion that Maya, 
like Mary, was at the same time a mother and a 
virgin. 1 Not, indeed, that the notion of virgin- 
motherhood is peculiar to the Sacred Scriptures 
alone. We find it elsewhere, in the Avesta, in the 
mythology of Greece and of ancient Mexico. But 
this notion has no place in the Buddha-legend, where 
Maya is not once spoken of as a virgin, and where 
the consummation of her marriage with King Sud- 
dhodana is plainly implied. Thus in the very ver- 
sion mentioned above, where Mr. Bunsen pretends to 
find the epithet virgin applied to Maya, we read : 

"The queen from that moment [i. e. of conception] 
leads a pure, uncontaminate life. 

" ' Now, on account of this conception, 
Bearing as I do a Mahasattva, 
I give up all false, polluting ways, 
And both in heart and body rest in purity.' " 2 

The Romantic Legend 2, represents Maya as saying : 
" From this time forth, I will no more partake of any 
sensual pleasure." 

In the Life of Buddha, as told in the Manual of 
Budhismf we read : " From the time of conception, 
Mahamaya was free from passion and lived in the 
strictest continence." 

1 Bunsen, Loc. cit. Seydel, Op. cit. p. no. Lillie, Buddhism in 
Christendom, p. II. 

2 S. B. E. XIX. p. xix. 8 p. 37. ■» p. 142. 



238 Buddhism and Christianity- 

According to the Tibetan Life of Buddha, as given 
by Mr. Rockhill, 1 Suddhodana, the king, " knew 
Mahamaya his wife ; but she bore him no children." 
In the face of such evidence, the following as- 
tronomical reasoning of Mr. Lillie 2 fails to bring 
conviction : " It has been debated whether she was a 
virgin at the date of Buddha's birth. As she is, with- 
out doubt, Virgo of the sky, I think the question 
must be answered in the affirmative." 

Nor does the plea which he makes in another 
work 3 serve to make good his contention. "At- 
tempts have been recently made to prove that the 
mother of Buddha was not a virgin ; but this goes 
completely counter to both the Northern and the 
Southern scriptures. It is stated in the Lalita Vis- 
tara that the mother of a Buddha must never have 
had a child. In the Southern scriptures, as given by 
Mr. Tumour, it is announced that a womb in which a 
Buddha elect has reposed, is like the sanctuary of a 
chaitya (temple)." 

The evidence already cited shows his first state- 
ment to be untrue. The other two statements are 
beside the point. To be childless is not the same as 
to be a virgin ; and a comparison given as a reason 
why Maya could not bear again, has nothing to say 
regarding her virginity. 

1 p. 15. 

2 Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 70. This is an echo of Mr. 
Bunsen's symbolic speculation on p. 23 of his Angel Messiah. 

3 Buddhism in Christendom, p. II. Cf. Influence, p. 23. 



Fictions 239 

" A womb in which a Buddho elect has reposed is as the 
sanctuary [in which the relic is enshrined] in a chetiyo. No 
human being can again occupy it or use it. On that account 
the mother of a Buddho elect, dying on the seventh day 
after the birth of the elect, is regenerated in Tusitapura." 1 

In another work still,' 2 Mr. Lillie tries to prove the 
virginity of Maya from a passage in the Lalita Vistara. 
" By the consent of the king, the queen was permitted 
to lead the life of a virgin for thirty-two months." 3 

But the French translator, Mr. Foucaux, on whose 
version Mr. Lillie relies, commenting on this very 
text, denies that it implies virginity. He quotes a 
passage from the Tibetan version of the Abhinish- 
kramana Sutra, wherein the very opposite is plainly 
asserted. His words are as follows : " Maya Devi 
obtient du roi son epoux de ne pas obeir au desir 
pendant 32 mois, mais il n'est pas dit qu'elle soit 
vierge. Le passage suivant de l'Abhinichkramana 
Sutra (trad, tib.) dans le Kandjour p. 189, ne laisse 
aucun doute a ce sujet. ' Le roi Souddhodana etant 
alle avec Mahamaya dans l'interieur solitaire du 
palais, ils se livrerent aux jeux, se livrerent au plaisir, 
se livrerent a la volupte.' " i 

1 Tumour, Journ. Asiat. Soc. of Bengal, VII. p. 800. Cf. Warren, 
Buddhism in Translations, p. 45. 

' z Influence, p. 24. 3 Ch. iii., Ann. Afus. Guim. VI. p. 29. 

4 Ann. A/us. Guim. XIX. p. 12. Saint Jerome seems to have been 
the first to make the mistake of ascribing to Maya a virgin-mother- 
hood. " Apud Gymnosophistas Indiae, quasi per tnanus hujus opini- 
onis auctoritas traditur quod Buddam principem dogmatis eorum e 
latere suo virgo generarit." Adv. Jovinianum, lib. I. c. 42. 



240 Buddhism and Christianity 

(3) It needs a great reach of imagination to 
recognize with Mr. Lillie * an affinity between the 
angelic annunciation to Mary of her impending 
motherhood, and the dream of Maya that a white 
elephant had entered her right side. To resort to 
such a comparison seems like trifling with the good 
sense of the reader. 

On the other hand, Professor Seydel 2 thinks he 
sees in the interpretation of Maya's dream by the 
Brahman priests the appropriate Buddhist parallel. 
Even this is too far-fetched to merit consideration. 

(4) Despite Mr. Lillie's 3 assurance to the con- 
trary, there is so little resemblance between the 
angel that appeared to Joseph in a dream to allay 
his suspicions, and the heavenly beings that, showing 
half their forms, anticipated Maya in announcing to 
the king the glorious conception of Buddha, that the 
parallelism, must be unhesitatingly rejected. Were the 
resemblance a real one, instead of being purely fanci- 
ful, it would have to be rejected as an anachronism, 
since the earliest book in which it is found is the 
Lalita Vistara. 

(5) The star which guided the wise men from the 
East to Bethlehem is not allowed to pass as an orig- 
inal feature of the Gospel narrative. 4 We are re- 
minded that in the Buddha-legend there is mention 

1 Influence, p. 25. 2 Op. cit. p. 107. 

3 Influence, p. 25. 

4 Bunsen, Op. cit. p. 34. Seydel, Op. cit. p. 135. Lillie, Influence, 
p. 26. 



Fictions 241 

of a star as well, Pushya (the Flower), at the time of 
whose conjunction Buddha was born. 1 

Mr. Lillie calls it the " king of stars," and tells us 
that " Colebrooke, the best astronomer of Oriental 
philologists, identifies this with the Delta of Cancer." 2 

But neither is Pushya the king of stars, nor is it 
identified even by Colebrooke with the insignificant 
star alleged. Colebrooke, 3 like all other competent 
scholars, recognizes Pushya to be, not a single star, 
but an asterism consisting of three stars in the con- 
stellation Cancer, the chief one being Delta. Pushya 
is one of the twenty-eight asterisms constituting the 
Hindu lunar zodiac, by which the different parts of 
the year are designated. The appearance of Pushya 
on the eastern horizon at the time of sunset was thus 
a regular annual phenomenon. It has not the remot- 
est resemblance with the mysterious star mentioned 
in the Gospel as having gone before the wise men in 
their westward journey till it stopped over the place 
where Jesus was. 

(6) Closely connected with this spurious parallel 
is the alleged coincidence of the birthday of Jesus 
with that of Buddha. Mr. Lillie, 4 who dwells at 
length on this point, informs us that " Mr. de Bunsen 

1 Professor Seydel allows himself to be led into Bunsen's error of 
assigning the appearance of Pushya to the time of Buddha's incarna- 
tion. 

* Buddhism in Christendom, p. 19. 

8 Essays, II. p. 293 (Cowell's edition). Cf. W. D. Whitney, Ori- 
ental and Linguistic Studies, Second Series, N. Y. 1874, p. 352. 

4 Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 182. . 

16 



242 Buddhism and Christianity 

was the first to discover that Buddha was born on 
the 25th of December." Invention, not discovery, is 
the proper term to apply to the curious and very 
erroneous result obtained, not from the consideration 
of the data given in the original sources, but from 
the combination of a Chinese translation of the sixth 
century with a Hindu New Year reckoning belonging 
to the Middle Ages. 1 

Both writers might have saved themselves many 
pages of worthless discussion, had they made use of 
the indications plainly set forth in the Buddha Charita, 
or the Lalita Vistara. In chapter vii. of the latter, 2 
we read that the birth took place at the time of the 
conjunction of the asterism Pushya. That both Mr. 
Lillie and Mr. Bunsen should have ignored this, is 
not a little surprising, since they did not fail to make 
use of it to duplicate the Gospel incident of the star. 
The time of Buddha's birth was thus the time of con- 
junction of the full moon with the asterism Pushya, in 
other words, when the group of stars, Gamma, Delta, 
and Theta of Cancer were in opposition to the sun, 
and hence appearing on the eastern horizon at sun- 
set. 3 This happens about the middle of January, 
not on Christmas day. 

There is another indication that leads to the same 
result. Chapter vi. of the Lalita Vistara 4 opens 

1 Cf. Bunsen, Op. cit. p. 18. 2 Ann. Mus. Guim. VI. p. 74. 

8 Cf. Journal of the American Oriental Society, VI. p. 432; VII. 
pp. 21, 68-69. 

* Ann. Mus. Guim. VI. p. 54. 



Fictions 243 

with the statement that Buddha's incarnation took 
place "in the month Vaisaka [April-May], when 
the asterism Visaka appeared." Mr. Lillie himself is 
familiar with this very passage, for only two pages 
before the place in his book where he gives Decem- 
ber 25 as the birthday of Buddha, he writes: " So 
in spring, when appears the constellation Visakha 
[April-May], the Bodhisattva . . . entered the right 
side of his mother." 1 Now all the forms of the 
legend agree in assigning ten lunar months (nine 
solar months) to the period of gestation, so that 
Buddha's birth could not have taken place before 
the middle of January. This doubtless explains why 
this " discovery " of Mr. Bunsen has received no 
recognition in the scientific world. 

(7) The attempt to find a parallel to the wise men 
offering to the infant Jesus gold, frankincense, and 
myrrh is no more successful. Professor Seydel, 2 
under the caption " gold, frankincense, and myrrh," 
remarks that Buddha, not yet born, received from the 
god Brahman a dewdrop containing all power, and, 
immediately after birth, was presented by gods and 
nymphs with incense and spikenard, while later on, 
the Sakya princes bestowed on him splendid palaces 

1 Buddha and Early Buddhism, p. 73. According to the South- 
ern legend, it was at this time that Buddha was born. Cf. Rhys 
Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 63. Hardy, Manual of Budhism, 
p. 146. 

2 Op. cit. p. 139. 



244 Buddhism and Christianity 

to live in. This is anything but a counterpart of the 
Gospel story. 1 

Mr. Lillie 2 is misleading, when he complacently 
says of this futile effort, " Seydel, in a chapter headed, 
' Gold, frankincense, and myrrh,' draws attention to 
the similarity of the gift-presents in the Indian and 
Christian narratives." Not content, however, with 
this alleged parallel, he resorts to the story told in 
the ninth chapter of the LalitaVistara, that the young 
Gotama was taken in great pomp to the royal garden 
and adorned with every imaginable ornament, — rings, 
bracelets, necklaces, ear-rings, and cinctures, of gold 
and precious stones, — but such was the splendor of 
his body that these ornaments seemed to have lost 
their brilliancy. 3 

It is plain that this story offers but a remote resem- 
blance to the Gospel incident. 

(8) In the story of King Bimbisara, which is first 
found in the Romantic Legend^ belonging to the 
sixth century, Professor Seydel 5 and Mr. Lillie 6 think 
they see the prototype of the Gospel story of King 
Herod. Like Herod and a thousand others, Bimbi- 
sara was a king, ruling in the city of Rajagriha. Like 

1 The earliest authority for this bestowing of gifts at birth is the 
Lalita Vistara, which, as we have seen, is much more recent than the 
Gospels. It relates, that myriads of nymphs showered upon Maya 
flowers, perfumes, garlands, ointments, vestments, and ornaments. 
Ann. Mus. Guim. VI. p. 84. 

2 Buddhism in Christendom, p. 30. 

3 Cf. also Romantic Legend, p. 64. 4 pp. 103-104. 

6 Op. cit. pp. 142-143. 6 Influence, p. 28. 



Fictions 245 

many other monarchs, Herod included, he was not 
without fear that some rival might contest his su- 
premacy. Unlike the case of Herod, there was no 
helpless infant in his kingdom whose death he sought 
to compass, lest one day it might prove a claimant to 
the throne. He was simply warned of the waxing 
strength of the neighboring prince, Gotama, who, 
grown to youthful vigor, was soon to take the reins 
of power and might show himself a formidable rival. 
He was advised to send an army at once into his 
neighbor's kingdom, and destroy him. But the king, 
who, unlike Herod, was a just man, indignantly re- 
jected so wicked a proposal. Always on friendly 
terms with Gotama, he became a convert to the new 
religion. 

It is only an overwrought fancy that could see a 
counterpart to the Gospel story in such a tale as this. 

(9) Mr. Bunsen 1 sees in the appellation " habba," 
the " coming one," applied by the Jews to the ex- 
pected Messiah, an echo of the common epithet of 
Buddha, Tathagata, to which he attaches the same 
meaning. Since there is not a single Sanskrit or Pali 
scholar who gives it this meaning, Mr. Bunsen's con- 
tention is valueless. 2 

(10) All three writers 3 point to the legend of Bud- 

1 Op. cit. p. 18. 

2 Tathagata is best rendered " the perfect one." Cf. Oldenberg, 
Buddha, p. 126. 

8 Bunsen, Op. cit. p. 30. — Seydel, Op. cit. p. 148. — Lillie, Bud- 
dhism in Christendo7n, p. 25. 



246 Buddhism and Christianity 

dha at the ploughing-match as the pattern after which 
the Gospel story of the lost child Jesus was modelled. 
The Buddhist story is found in two forms. Accord- 
ing to the Pali form, Buddha, when an infant of five 
months, was put by his nurses in the shade of a Jambu- 
tree, while they withdrew to an adjoining field to wit- 
ness the royal ploughing-match. So absorbed did 
they become in the contest that they forgot about 
their little charge, and when they returned some hours 
later, they found the babe sitting upright and motion- 
less, in deep meditation, still shaded by the tree, 
though the shadows of all the other trees had turned. 
The king was summoned to witness the miracle, and 
fell in adoration before him. 1 

In the story as known to the Northern school, this 
episode is told of Buddha when a young man. The 
Lalita Vistara' 1 puts the incident before his marriage ; 
but according to the oldest versions, 3 it took place on 
the eve of his flight from home. Disgusted at the sight 
of suffering, which even the diversion of the plough- 
ing-match could not keep from view, he quietly re- 
tired to a neighboring Jambu-tree, where he sat, with 
crossed legs, and lapsed into a meditative trance. 
Rishis, arrested in their flight, came to do him 
homage. The king missed him, and fearing some 
mishap, went out in search of him with attendants. 

1 Hardy, Manual of Budhism, p. 150. 2 Ch. xi. 

3 Buddha Charita, v. Cf. also .£. B. E. XIX. pp. xx and 48. The 
Buddha Charita and its Chinese version make no mention of the 
Jambu-tree or of the Rishis. 



Fictions 247 

He soon found him sitting motionless in the arrested 
shadow of the Jambu-tree. 

It is plain that with the single exception of the 
search for the young prince, who, far from being lost, 
was well able to look after himself, this legend is 
quite unlike the story of the lost Jesus. 

(11) We are gravely informed by each of the three 
writers 1 that as Jesus, on the eve of his public min- 
istry, suffered himself to be baptized in the Jordan, 
so Buddha, on the eve of his enlightenment under the 
Bodhi-tree, sought baptism in the river Nairanjana. 
This is a curious instance of the wish being father to 
the thought; for the various versions of the legend 
simply state that before partaking of the rice and 
cream prepared for him by the shepherd's daughter, 
he went into the stream and bathed. There is good 
reason to believe that this was not the first time that 
Buddha subjected himself to this kind of baptism. 2 

(12) Mr. Lillie, 3 on the authority of Mr. Bunsen, 
tries to persuade his readers that Buddha, like Christ, 
began to preach at thirty years of age. But Mr. 
Bunsen's authority is here of no account, for it has 
not a single Buddhist text to give it support. Both 
the Sanskrit and the Pali scriptures agree in teaching 

1 Bunsen, Op. cit. p. 42. — Seydel, Op. cit. p. 155. — Lillie, Bud- 
dha and Early Buddhism, p. 155. 

2 Great stress is laid on the mystic significance of " crossing to 
the other shore " of the river on this occasion. But as this element 
is ignored, and even contradicted, by the ancient forms of the legend, 
it is fair to presume that its importance is set too high. 

3 Influence, p. 44. 



248 Buddhism and Christianity 

that Buddha left his home at the age of twenty-nine 
years, and only after six years of asceticism attained to 
Buddhaship, and preached his first sermon at 
Benares. 1 

(13) One of the Gospel incidents which, in the 
mind of Professor Seydel, 2 point unmistakably to Bud- 
dhist influence, is the story in the first chapter of 
John, about Nathaniel and the fig-tree. As the new 
disciple came with Philip, Jesus said : " Before Philip 
called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw 
thee," whereupon Nathaniel recognized Him as the 
Messiah. Here, then, observes Professor Seydel, we 
have the fig-tree mentioned in connection with 
Christ's messiahship and with the winning of two 
disciples. This association is so peculiar as to call 
for explanation. Now if we turn to the Buddha- 
legend, the mystery is solved. For Buddha attained 
to his enlightenment under the Bodhi-tree, which 
was a pippala, or variety of fig-tree. It was while 
sitting under the sacred fig-tree, immediately after 
his enlightenment, that he converted the two mer- 
chants, Tapussa and Bhallika. The winning of these 
first two converts under the Bodhi-tree supplies the 
key to the explanation of the similar incident which, 
in John, has such an awkward setting. 

But is not fancy here taking the place of reason? 

1 Two Chinese versions give nineteen years as the age of Buddha 
when leaving home. Cf. S. B. E. XIX. pp. xxi, xxvL 

2 Op. cit. pp. 168-170, also, 296. 



Fictions 249 

Analyze the alleged parallel closely, and it quickly 
resolves itself into a series, not of resemblances, but 
of contrasts. The sacred fig-tree is associated with the 
Buddhaship, for beneath it Buddha attained to per- 
fect wisdom. Buddha, according to the inaccurate 
statement of Professor Seydel, while still sitting 
beneath the tree, makes his first two converts, mer- 
chants, who, being won over to the new law, go on 
their way rejoicing. They are not numbered among 
his intimate disciples. On the other hand, Philip 
and Nathaniel are not the first to be won over to 
Christ. Peter and John preceded them. They did 
not merely believe in Christ; they joined themselves 
to the small band of His familiar disciples. Christ 
did not, after the alleged example of Buddha, win 
them over while sitting under the fig-tree ; nor is any 
close connection of the fig-tree with His messiahship 
implied. He led Nathaniel to recognize Him to be 
the Messiah by giving proof of His superhuman 
knowledge. He declared that when Nathaniel was 
under the fig-tree, He knew him. Thus the only 
thing in the two incidents that offers a basis for com- 
parison is the fig-tree. But as fig-trees were com- 
mon enough in Palestine, it is hardly necessary to 
go to India to find the explanation of this trivial 
coincidence. 

(14) Another story thought by Professor Seydel 1 
and Mr. Lillie 2 to bear the unmistakable impress of 

1 Op. cit. pp. 230-231. 2 Influence, pp. 54-55. 



250 Buddhism and Christianity 

Buddhist speculation is that mentioned in Jolin, ix. 
1-4, concerning the man born blind. The question 
put to Jesus by His disciples, " Who did sin, this man 
or his parents?" is made to bear witness that the 
disciples were imbued with Buddhist ideas of rebirth, 
with the evil consequences of sin committed in a 
previous life. Professor Seydel, in confirmation, 
calls attention to a parable in the Lotus of the True 
Law, in which a physician cures a blind man, declar- 
ing beforehand that his infirmity was the result of a 
previous life of sin. 

The fictitious character of this alleged resemblance 
reveals itself on a moment's reflection. First of all, 
the fact that the doctrine of rebirth was not unknown 
in Palestine in the time of Christ, while betraying 
foreign influence, would not necessarily point to a 
Buddhist source ; for the doctrine was known to the 
Greeks, as well, as far back as Pythagoras. 1 

In the second place, granted that this notion was 
in the air, the question, " Did this man sin or his 
parents?" need not imply that the speaker held the 
doctrine of metempsychosis himself. The know- 
ledge that some held it, and the suspicion that it 
might be true, would be enough to account for the 
question. 

1 Mr. Lillie, following Mr. Bunsen, makes the gratuitous asser- 
tion that Pythagoras borrowed his particular views from Buddha. 
Scholars think otherwise. "The story of Pythagoras' journey to 
India is taken by modern critics to be a fable. Sound scholarship 
recognizes the independent origin of Greek and Indian philosophy." 
Lassen, Indische Alterthumskundc, I. p. S62. 



Fictions 251 

Thirdly, it is incredible that the disciples would 
have held the Buddhist doctrine of karma without the 
positive approbation of Jesus. But how absolutely 
foreign to His mind was any such notion, is plainly 
shown by His reply: "Neither did this man sin nor 
his parents ; but that the works of God should be 
made manifest in him." It is difficult to conceive a 
more absolute denial of the doctrine of karma than 
this. 

Professor Seydel's appeal to the parable of the 
blind man in the Lotus of the True Law is of no 
avail, for the Gospel of St. JoJin antedates this work 
by at least a century. 

(15) In the Mahavagga} the story is told of the 
young nobleman Yasa, who abandoned his home to 
become a monk. It is identical with the story of 
Buddha's flight from home, and seems to be the 
original and not the copy. Yasa had three palaces, 
one for each season, in which he lived a life of care- 
less pleasure, surrounded by female musicians. One 
night he awoke, and by the light of the lamp, saw his 
female attendants lying asleep in all sorts of hideous 
positions. Disgusted at the sight, he put on his gilt 
slippers, and fled. A mysterious hand opened the 
door of his palace and the gate of the city, so that 
he was able to make his way without hindrance to 
the deer-park. There, in the gray light of the morn- 
ing, he came upon Buddha walking up and down 

1 i. 7.— S. B.E. XIII. p. 102. 



252 Buddhism and Christianity 

in the open air. He unburdened himself to him, lis- 
tened to his exhortations, and became a disciple. 

This is the character that Mr. Lillie 1 would have 
us take as the prototype of Nicodemus. " Professor 
Rhys Davids points out that Yasas, a rich young 
man, came to Buddha by night for fear of his rich 
relations." On comparisons like these no comment 
is needed. 

(16) "Buddha's triumphal entry into Rajagriha," 
says Mr. Lillie, 2 " has been compared to Christ's entry 
into Jerusalem." The merit of originating this com- 
parison seems to belong to Professor Seydel. 3 But 
apart from the fact that the story is not found in the 
most ancient forms of the Buddha-legend, and is 
entirely unknown to the Northern school, the points 
of resemblance are too few to warrant the name of a 
parallel. Buddha, accepting an invitation to dine 
with Bimbisara, king of Rajagriha, sets out in the 
morning with his band of monks. As he enters the 
city, a deva, assuming the form of a beautiful youth, 
precedes Buddha, and announces in song to the 
inhabitants that the most perfect of kings, exempt 
from all passions, free from the miseries of rebirth, 
worthy of the homage of gods and men, is coming. 
Of anything like an enthusiastic greeting on the part of 
the people, of a strewing of branches or flowers before 
him, there is not a word. 4 The parallel is reduced to 

1 Influence, p. 47. 2 Ibid. p. 53. 

8 Op. cit. p. 255. 4 Bigandet, Op. cit. pp. 154-155. 



Fictions 253 

the single common feature of entering into a city. 
In other words, it is no parallel at all. 

(17) Mr. Lillie * lays himself open to severe criti- 
cism in his attempt to draw a parallelism between the 
Last Supper of Jesus and the final meal prepared for 
Buddha by Chunda, the smith. His designation of 
this meal as a " last supper " is singularly inappro- 
priate ; for Buddha was not wont to sup at all, being 
obliged by his rule of life to eat but once a day, and 
that before noon. 2 But what he says of this meal is 
more objectionable still : " A treacherous disciple 
changed his alms-bowl, and apparently he was poi- 
soned. ... It will be remembered that during the 
last supper of Jesus a treacherous disciple ' dipped 
into his dish,' but as Jesus was not poisoned, the 
event had no sequence." 

This comparison would be of little weight, even if 
both sides were correctly stated. But the fact is that 
the Buddhist episode, besides being of tardy origin, 3 
is strangely misrepresented. In the Tibetan source 
from which he pretends to have drawn it, there is 
mention, not of a treacherous disciple, but of a 
wicked one. Nor is it related that this wicked dis- 
ciple changed his master's dish and poisoned him, 
but simply that, in his greed, he took for himself the 
superior food which was meant for Buddha, so that 

1 Influence, p. 65. Buddhism in Christendom, p. 193. 

2 The Book of the Great Decease states that the meal in question 
took place early in the morning. Vide supra, p. 77. 

3 It is not to be found in the Book of the Great Decease. 



254 Buddhism and Christianity 

the host was obliged to have another bowl of equally 
choice contents prepared for his distinguished guest. 1 
Such are the elements out of which Mr. Lillie seeks 
to build up the Buddhist model of the Last Supper ! 

(18) The following statement of Mr. Bunsen 2 is an 
absolute fiction, for which there is not a shred of 
evidence in Buddhist records: " Gautama Buddha is 
said to have announced to his disciples that the time 
of his departure had come. ' Arise, let us go hence, 
my time is come.' Turning towards the east, and 
with folded hands, he prayed to the highest Spirit, 
who inhabits the region of purest light, to Maha- 
Brahma." 

It is easy to recognize in these words the influence 
of the author of the Light of Asia. To make the 
personages of the Buddha-legend speak the language 
of scripture is questionable even in a poet. But it is 
absolutely inexcusable in one who pretends to write 
as a man of science. 

(19) The inanity of the following comparison is too 
patent to call for discussion. " ' Then all His disciples 
forsook Him and fled.' It is recorded that on one 
occasion, when a ' must' elephant charged furiously, 
' all the disciples deserted Buddha. Ananda alone 
remained.' " 3 

(20) Fit to be classed with the preceding is the 
Buddhist parallel proposed to the conversion of the 

1 Rockhill, Life of the Buddha, p. 133. 

2 Op. cit. p. 48. 3 Influence, p. 58. 



Fictions 255 

thief on the cross. Referring to the Chinese Dham- 
mapada, Mr. Lillie l gravely informs us that " Buddha 
confronts a terrible bandit in his mountain retreat, and 
converts him." 

(21) Scarcely less trivial is the Buddhist parallel to 
the parting of Christ's garments. " The Abbe Hue 
tells us that on the death of the Bokte Lama, his 
garments are cut into little strips and prized im- 
mensely." 2 

(22) The resurrection of the body forms no part of 
Buddhist belief. Yet, nothing daunted, Mr. Lillie 3 
finds a Buddhist parallel to the Gospel narrative that 
after the death of Christ on the cross, the bodies of 
the saints that slept arose. Referring to the Tibetan 
Buddha-legend, he says, " When Buddha died at 
Kusinagara, Ananda and another disciple saw many 
denizens of the unseen world in the city, by the river 
Yigdan." 

(23) So, too, the resurrection of Christ and His 
appearing to many, are not without their alleged 
Buddhist prototype ; for a Chinese version, which 
Mr. Lillie 4 forgets to say is centuries later than the 
Gospel narrative, tells how the dead Buddha, to soothe 
his mother, who had come down weeping from the 
sky, opened the lid of his coffin and appeared to 
her! 

1 Influence, p. 61. 2 Lillie, Op. cit p. 67. 

8 Ibid. p. 66. This incident is not to be found in the Book of the 
Great Decease. 

4 l7ifluence, p. 67. Buddhism in Christendom, p. 196. 



256 Buddhism and Christianity 

(24) To show the source of the saying of Christ, 
" If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out," the 
same writer 1 gives a story from the Ocean of Worlds, 
which he neglects to say does not belong to the can- 
onical Buddhist scriptures : " A young monk meets 
a rich woman who pities his hard lot. ' Blessed is 
the woman who looks into thy lovely eyes.' ' Lovely,' 
replied the monk, ' look here ! ' And plucking out 
one of his eyes, he held it up, bleeding and ghastly, 
and asked her to correct her opinion." 

As the principle on which the monk acted may be 
formulated, " If thy eye cause others to stumble, 
pluck it out," it would have been better had 
Mr. Lillie sought elsewhere for his term of com- 
parison. 

(25) The well-known similitude of the kingdom of 
heaven to the pearl of great price, to obtain which 
the merchant sells all his store, is compared not with 
a similitude, as one would naturally expect, but with 
a story that Buddha, when a merchant in a former 
birth, dropped a very precious gem into the sea, and, 
through perseverance and determination, recovered 
it! 2 

These are the many fictions which in the works 
under review are set forth as witnesses against the 
originality of Christianity. Taken together with the 
exaggerations and the anachronisms already enu- 
merated, they constitute the great majority of the 

1 Influence, p. 59. 2 Ibid. p. 61. 



Fictions 257 

alleged parallels that are pressed into service to do 
honor to Buddhism to the prejudice of the Christian 
religion. Whether the small remnant of genuine 
resemblances throws doubt on the originality of the 
Gospels will be discussed in the following chapter. 



17 



CHAPTER V 

RESEMBLANCES NOT IMPLYING DEPENDENCE 

Abuse of the principle that resemblance means dependence — Re- 
semblances often of independent origin ■ — Examples from com- 
parative ethnology and religion — Explained by similarity of 
conditions and by the uniformity of the laws of thought — Further 
instances — Enumeration of the Buddhist parallels wrongly taken 
to indicate the influence of Buddhism on Christianity. 

IT is a mistake frequently committed in the com- 
parison of different religious systems to make 
too large a use of the principle that resemblance 
means dependence. No principle is more liable to 
abuse ; consequently, none should be applied with 
greater care. For both experience and reflection 
give warning that in the customs and sayings of 
different peoples, there are many resemblances of 
quite independent origin. So common, in fact, are 
such resemblances that a careful scholar will be slow 
to suspect an historical connection except in very 
special instances. 

Nothing is more common in the study of compara- 
tive ethnology and religion than to find similar social 
and religious customs practised by peoples too re- 
mote to have had any communication, the one with 



Independent Resemblances 259 

the other. Take, for example, the uncleanncss of 
the mother at childbirth, or the use of ordeals, or 
the custom of burying with the dead the utensils 
needed for the next life, or the belief in witchcraft, 
or in the reincarnation of the souls of the dead in 
human and animal forms, — these and many other 
observances are the possession of peoples native to 
every continent of the earth, peoples absolutely un- 
known to one another, and representing almost every 
degree of social and religious progress. Even a 
custom so singular as the couvade has been found 
to prevail among tribes of California, New Mexico, 
Brazil, Western China, Southern Asia, among the 
Tibareni of the Black Sea, and the Basques of 
Northern Spain. 

It needs but a little reflection to understand how 
these and a hundred other resemblances take their 
rise. 

All the world over, men have to a large extent 
the same daily experiences, the same feelings, the 
same desires. Now, as the laws of human thought 
are everywhere the same, it lies in the very nature 
of things that men, in so far as they have the same 
experiences, will think the same thoughts, and give 
expression to them in sayings and customs that strike 
the unreflecting observer by their similarity. 

It is particularly in the sphere of moral conduct 
that resemblances of independent origin may be 
looked for. Where different and even remote peoples 



260 Buddhism and Christianity 

stand on an equal grade of culture, man's duties to 
his family, his friends, his tribes-men, are recognized 
by all with about the same degree of perspicuity. 
The excellence of a life of virtue, such as it is con- 
ceived, is held in equal esteem. Hence it is that the 
proverbs of such peoples, while of quite independent 
origin, offer many points of contact. 

The forms of speech, too, in which these thoughts 
find expression, are often very much alike. Since 
the use of figurative language is universal, it is not 
in the least surprising that the same phenomena of 
daily experience should furnish the orator in every 
land with the figures that lend vividness to his utter- 
ance, nor is it at all strange that religious teachers 
of different nations should give point to their 
teachings by similar parables drawn from familiar 
examples of human activity. 

When Isaias, 1 speaking in the name of Jehovah, 
says of Cyrus : " He is my shepherd and shall per- 
form all my pleasure," or when Ezekiel, 2 exercising 
a similar office, says of David : " And I will set up 
one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, 
even my servant David ; he shall feed them and 
shall be their shepherd," no one thinks of question- 
ing the originality of the figure on the ground that 
in the poems of Homer the favorite epithet applied 
to Agamemnon is "shepherd of the people." 3 

1 Isaias, xliv. 2S. 2 Ezekiel, xxxiv. 23. 

3 Odyssey, iii. 155. 



Independent Resemblances 261 

Neither is there any cause to suspect an affinity 
between the house-simile uttered by Buddha under 
the Bodhi-tree, and the beautiful soliloquy of Philo- 
laches, 1 in which he likens himself to a mansion that 
is in sad need of repair. Nor does the Buddha- 
epithet, Sakya-sinha, Sakya-lion, imply any acquaint- 
ance on the part of Buddhists with the similar epithet 
given centuries before to Juda. " Juda is a lion's 
whelp ... he couched as a lion." 2 Nor is it neces- 
sary to have recourse to the second chapter of Gene- 
sis to account for the Buddhist conception of the 
Bodhi-tree. Nor need we see in the verse of the song 
of David given in II. Kings, xxii. 28, " For Thou art 
my lamp, O Lord," the source of the Buddhist say- 
ing, " Be ye lamps unto yourselves," or of the similar 
figure used by an Aztec mother in instructing her 
daughter: " It will be to you as a lamp and a beacon 
so long as you shall live in this world." 3 

These reflections serve to show how idle is the 
attempt on the part of the writers under review to 
make capital of certain Buddhist parallels that offer 
an undoubted resemblance to utterances found in 
the Gospels. 

We are all familiar with the beautiful incident told 
in the Gospel, that as Jesus was one day preaching 
to a throng of listeners, a woman cried out in her 

1 Plautus, Mostellaria, act. i. seen. 2. 2 Gen. xlix. 8. 

3 Sahagun, Hisloria de Nueva Espaha, VI. cap. xix. The passage 
is translated by Prescott, Conquest of Mexico, Vol. II. Appendix, part 



262 Buddhism and Christianity 

enthusiasm, " Blessed is the womb that bore Thee 
and the breasts that gave Thee suck," whereupon 
our Saviour made reply, " Yea, rather, blessed are 
they who hear the word of God and keep it." 1 

To this Professor Seydel 2 offers what he thinks a 
most significant parallel, of which the Gospel inci- 
dent is an unmistakable reflection. The Buddha- 
legend tells how a princess, looking down from her 
apartments on Gotama as he passed by, paling the 
splendor of his retinue by his personal magnificence, 
was carried away by the sight and cried out: 
" Happy the father and mother who have such an 
incomparable son! Happy the wife who has so 
excellent a lord ! " But Gotama, seeing that real 
happiness was to be found only in Nirvana, made up 
his mind to renounce the world that very night ; and 
in return for the great truth which the words of the 
princess had brought home to him, he loosed a 
string of costly pearls from his neck and sent it 
to her. 3 

In this story, there is but one feature which admits 
of comparison with the Gospel incident, namely, the 
words of felicitation which the princess had for the 
mother who gave birth to Gotama. But is this say- 
ing so remarkable that Professor Seydel should deny 

1 Luke, xi. 27, 28. 

2 Die Buddha-Legende und das Leben Jesu, p. 20. 

3 Cf. Legend of Gaudama, I. p. 58 ; Buddha Charita, v. 24. In the 
original, there is a play on the words "happiness" and " Nirvana," 

which sound much alike. 



Independent Resemblances 263 

to the Gospel parallel the merit of originality? Is 
it not a common experience that parents take delight 
in a worthy son? Does not the Book of Proverbs 
say that a wise son maketh a glad father? Surely, 
then, to call a mother happy for possessing a remark- 
able son is to give utterance to a truism. It is to 
say what has doubtless been said ten thousand times 
in every language. A saying so common would not 
have had a place either in the Gospel narrative or in 
the Buddha-legend, had it not in both cases given 
occasion for a response of much deeper import. 

Every religious teacher recognizes certain ideals, 
and certain states which it is a blessed thing for the 
individual to possess. Hence it is but natural that 
in the traditional teachings of different religions, a 
number of beatitudes should be found. The psalms 
abound in them. There is thus no reason for resort- 
ing, as Mr. Lillie does, 1 to the following Buddhist 
text to explain the presence in the Sermon on the 
Mount of the eight incomparable beatitudes. 

" Many angels and men 
Have held various things blessings, 
When they were yearning for the inner wisdom. 
Do thou declare to us the chief good. 

" Not to serve the foolish, 
But to serve the spiritual ; 
To honor those worthy of honor, — 
This is the greatest blessing. 

1 Influence, pp. 48-49. 



264 Buddhism and Christianity 

" To dwell in a spot that befits one's condition, 
To think of the effect of one's deeds, 
To guide the behavior aright, — 
This is the greatest blessing. 



" Much insight and education, 
Self-control and pleasant speech, 
And whatever word be well spoken, — 
This is the greatest blessing. 

"To support father and mother, 
To cherish wife and child, 
To follow a peaceful calling, — - 
This is the greatest blessing. 

" To bestow alms and live righteously, 
To give help to kindred, 
Deeds which cannot be blamed, — 
This is the greatest blessing. 

" To abhor and cease from sin, 
Abstinence from strong drink, 
Not to be weary in well-doing, — 
This is the greatest blessing. 

" Reverence and lowliness, 
Contentment and gratitude, 
The hearing of Dharma at due seasons. 
This is the greatest blessing. 

" To be long-suffering and meek, 
To associate with the tranquil, 
Religious talk at due seasons, — 
This is the greatest blessing. 



Independent Resemblances 265 

" Self-restraint and purity, 
The knowledge of noble truths, 
The attainment of Nirvana, — 

This is the greatest blessing." 

From the Sutra of the Forty-two Sections, an early 
Chinese compilation of Buddhist teachings, Mr. Lillie 1 
gives the following quotations : — 

" By love alone can we conquer wrath. By good alone 
can we conquer evil. The whole world dreads violence. All 
men tremble in the presence of death. Do to others that 
which ye would have them do to you. Kill not. Cause no 
death." "Say no harsh words to thy neighbor. He will 
reply to thee in the same tone." 

These Buddhist texts are not needed to account for 
the similar teaching of Christ to love our enemies and 
to return good for evil. From Mr. Lillie's point of 
view, consistency would demand that he seek the 
origin of the Buddhist texts themselves in the earlier 
teaching of the Book of Proverbs : — 

" A soft answer turneth away wrath, but a harsh word 
stirreth up anger." " If thine enemy be hungry, give him 
to eat ; if he be thirsty, give him water to drink ; then shalt 
thou heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord shall 
reward thee." 2 

Figurative language, based on the familiar occupa- 
tion of husbandry, is not so remarkable that the Gos- 
pel parable of the sower should be traced to the 
following text: 3 — 

1 Op. cit. p. 48. 2 Proverbs, xv. I ; xxv. 21, 22. 

3 Influence, p. 51. 



266 Buddhism and Christianity 

'• It is recorded that Buddha once stood beside the plough- 
man Kasibharadyaja, who reproved him for his idleness. 
Buddha replied thus, ' I, too, plough and sow, and from my 
ploughing and sowing I reap immortal fruit. My field is re- 
ligion. The weeds that I pluck up are the passions of cleav- 
ing to this life. My plough is wisdom, my seed purity.' " 

The same judgment holds good of the following 
texts, that are not without their corresponding analo- 
gies in the writings of the New Testament : — 

" As men sow, thus shall they reap." 1 

" A man," says Buddha, " buries a treasure in a deep pit, 
which lying concealed therein day after day, profits him 
nothing ; but there is a treasure of charity, piety, temperance, 
soberness, a treasure secure, impregnable, that cannot pass 
away, a treasure that no thief can steal. Let the wise man 
practise Dharma. This is a treasure that follows him after 
death." (Khuddaka Patha, p. 13.) 2 

" As when a string of blind men are clinging one to the 
other, neither can the foremost see, nor the middle one see, 
nor the hindmost see. Just so, methinks, Vasittha, is the 
talk of the Brahmans versed in the three Vedas." (Tevijja 
Sutta, i. 15.) 3 

"What is the use of platted hair, O fool! What of a 
garment of skins ! Your low yearnings are within you, and 
the outside thou makest clean !" (Dhammapada, 394.) 

These are the most prominent resemblances that 
are to be found between the religious teachings of 
Christ and those ascribed to Buddha. In not a single 

1 Influence, p. 52. 2 Ibid. 

3 Ibid. p. 56. 



Independent Resemblances 267 

instance is an historical connection probable. They 
have their fitting explanation in the principle that the 
human mind, working in. similar circumstances, will 
give birth to similar thoughts. 

Lastly, we may note that the similarity of the life- 
work in which Jesus and Buddha were engaged has 
given rise to a certain number of parallels which can- 
not, however, be pressed into the argument without 
committing a flagrant violation of historic truth. In 
each case, the religion was propagated by preaching. 
Buddha, like Christ, gathered disciples about him, 
and having instructed them in his doctrines, sent 
them forth to convert their fellow-men. We read that 
when the disciples were sixty-one in number, Buddha 
said to them : — ■ 

" Go ye, now, O Bhikkhus, and wander for the gain of 
the many, for the welfare of the many, out of compassion for 
the world, for the good, for the gain and for the welfare of 
gods and men. Let not two of you go the same way." x 

As the Gospel speaks of John, the disciple whom 
Jesus loved, so, too, do we hear tell of Ananda, the 
favorite disciple of Buddha. Nor is there wanting a 
counterpart of Judas, — Devadatta, who tried to foil 
Buddha's plans, and even made several ineffectual 
attempts on his life. 

Another similarity between Buddhism and Chris- 
tianity is that both religions failed to maintain a flour- 
1 Mahavagga, i. 1 1. 5. B. E. XIII. p. 112. 



268 Buddhism and Christianity 

ishing existence in the land that saw them rise. They 
languished at home, but found a vigorous life and 
exercised a widespread influence abroad. 

It is needless to say that resemblances like these, 
being mere coincidences, give no evidence of the 
dependence of the one religion upon the other. 



CHAPTER VI 

ARGUMENTS FOR THE INDEPENDENT ORIGIN OF 
THE GOSPELS 

The apostolic origin of the Gospels of Matthew and of Luke incompati- 
ble with the adoption of mythical elements, and especially of 
features of the Buddha-legend — The alleged presence of Buddhist 
lore in Palestine and Greece an unwarranted assumption — The 
second Girnar Edict not an indication of Buddhist activity in the 
western possessions of Antiochus — The meaning of Yavana 
(Yona), and of Yavana(Yona)-loka — The thirteenth edict not 
conclusive evidence of the existence of Buddhism in the Greek- 
speaking world — The latter disproved by the silence of Greek 
literature and the total absence of Buddhist remains — Inconsist- 

I ent also with the silence of the Buddhist chronicles — Alasadda, 
capital of the Yona country, not Alexandria of Egypt — Zarmano- 
chegas not a Buddhist. 

WE have already seen how the vast array of 
pretended borrowings on the part of Chris- 
tianity from Buddhist sources dwindles on close 
examination to a few resemblances which, for the 
greater part, are easily explained on the ground of 
independent origin. The theory that Christianity is 
little more than a recasting of Buddhist elements into 
a new form thus falls to the ground for lack of 
sufficient coherent material. For the purpose of 
refutation further arguments are superfluous ; but 






-■- 



270 Buddhism and Christianity 

completeness of view demands that a few more con- 
siderations be dealt with that are quite pertinent to 
the subject. While the points of agreement in the 
two religions have been shown not to be so remark- 
able as to create a likelihood that the one has bor- 
rowed from the other, there are on the other hand, 
several reasons that tell with great force against the 
probability of an infiltration of Buddhist lore into the 
Gospels. 

First of all, it should be borne in mind that the 
Gospels took form so soon after the death of Christ 
as to render any application to Him of Buddha fables 
morally impossible. 

Christ was not a figure that loomed up suddenly 
before the people out of the mist of an unknown past. 
For three long years He had lived on terms of closest 
familiarity with His apostles and some of His disci- 
ples. His character was vividly impressed on their 
minds. Every saying and act of importance was 
carefully noted. Nor were the striking incidents of 
His childhood likely to remain unknown ; for among 
the followers who cherished His memory were His 
own mother and His so-called brothers and sisters. 

After His death, His acts and words were carefully 
treasured up in the minds of those who knew Him 
best. The preaching of the apostles and disciples 
consisted largely of these memorabilia of their be- 
loved Master. And so from the very first years of 
the Christian Church, there existed a large unwritten 



• 



Gospels not of Buddhist Origin 271 

collection of sayings and doings of Christ that were 
preserved with jealous care, being constantly em- 
ployed in the sacred office of making Christ crucified 
known to men. 

Now so long as Christ's mother and His disciples 
were alive, legendary fancies could never have come 
by mistake to form part of the authoritative teaching 
concerning the person and work of our blessed Savior. 
Had the story of the Magi, for example, or that 
of Simeon been a fable, it would have been denied 
without a moment's hesitation by Mary. In like 
manner, the apostles would have been the first to 
reject any spurious accretions to the story of Christ's 
public life, with which they were so familiar. Only 
by fraudulent design could myths and legends have 
found their way into the apostolic memoirs of 
Christ. But this hypothesis is utterly excluded by 
the unquestionable sincerity of the apostles, who 
gave up all that the world holds dear, even life itself, 
in' testimony of the truth of what they preached. 

Now if this be true of the oral preaching of the 
apostles, it is true as well of the Gospels of Matthew 
and Luke, in which the narratives of Christ's earliest 
years are to be found. We need not enter into the 
question whether the Gospel of Matthew was really 
written by the apostle with whose name it is linked. 
It is enough for our purpose to bear in mind that 
both these documents represent the authoritative 
teaching of the apostles, having been composed 



272 Buddhism and Christianity 

while many of the apostles and disciples were still 
alive. Most biblical scholars are now agreed in 
assigning to these Gospels a date ranging from 70 to 
85 A. D. Even so sceptical a critic as Renan holds 
the Gospel of Luke to be as early as 70-80 A. D. It 
stands to reason then, that both these Gospels, being 
composed under the eyes of those who knew Christ 
personally, and having the approbation of the apostles 
so as to be reckoned among the inspired scriptures, 
could not have been embellished with fanciful tales 
that formed no part of the personal experience of 
Jesus. 

But if fabulous elements in general could not have 
crept into the Gospel narrative, least of all could 
stories from the Buddha-legend have become part of 
apostolic teaching concerning the life of Jesus. Let 
us grant, for argument's sake, that the legendary 
account of Buddha's life was current in Palestine in 
the time of Christ. How are we to imagine for a 
moment that myths so closely associated with the 
name of Buddha could have been incorporated un- 
wittingly into the biography of Christ? The very 
publicity of the Buddha-legend would have rendered 
such a confusion impossible. Even a fraudulent 
attempt to make Christ the hero of the Buddha-tales 
would have proved a disastrous failure ; for so fla- 
grant an imposture would not have escaped the 
notice of those who set themselves in bitter opposi- 
tion to the new religion. They would not have failed 



Gospels not of Buddhist Origin 273 

to make use of it as a most effective weapon for 
assailing the claim of Christianity to divine origin. 
And yet in the attacks of Marcion, Celsus, Porphyry, 
and Julian, there is not the shadow of a charge that 
the Christian religion was guilty of arraying itself in 
the borrowed finery of Buddhism. 

But this is not all. The argument under review is 
burdened with a still greater difficulty; for its chief 
premise, that Buddhist lore was current in Palestine 
in the time of Christ, lacks positive evidence and 
must be set down as a gratuitous assumption. 

We have already seen how idle it is to try to make 
out that the Essenes were Buddhists and hence pur- 
veyors of Buddhist traditions. That they were ac- 
quainted with such traditions, there is not a single 
respectable proof. Nor do the rabbinical schools 
betray any familiarity with Buddhist lore. In the 
whole range of Palestinian literature the name of 
Buddha does not once occur. Of the Buddha-legend 
there is not a trace. 

Great emphasis is laid on the possibility of Bud- 
dhism having made its way to Syria and Egypt over 
the great trade-routes that connected India with the 
civilization of the West from early times. This pos- 
sibility cannot be questioned. But it counts for little 
unless it can be shown to have been realized. India 
was also connected by trade-routes with Tibet and 
Siam, so that here, as well, was a possibility for Bud- 
dhism to extend its influence long before the Chris- 



272 Buddhism and Christianity 

while many of the apostles and disciples were still 
alive. Most biblical scholars are now agreed in 
assigning to these Gospels a date ranging from 70 to 
85 A. D. Even so sceptical a critic as Renan holds 
the Gospel of Luke to be as early as 70-80 A. D. It 
stands to reason then, that both these Gospels, being 
composed under the eyes of those who knew Christ 
personally, and having the approbation of the apostles 
so as to be reckoned among the inspired scriptures, 
could not have been embellished with fanciful tales 
that formed no part of the personal experience of 
Jesus. 

But if fabulous elements in general could not have 
crept into the Gospel narrative, least of all could 
stories from the Buddha-legend have become part of 
apostolic teaching concerning the life of Jesus. Let 
us grant, for argument's sake, that the legendary 
account of Buddha's life was current in Palestine in 
the time of Christ. How are we to imagine for a 
moment that myths so closely associated with the 
name of Buddha could have been incorporated un- 
wittingly into the biography of Christ? The very 
publicity of the Buddha-legend would have rendered 
such a confusion impossible. Even a fraudulent 
attempt to make Christ the hero of the Buddha-tales 
would have proved a disastrous failure ; for so fla- 
grant an imposture would not have escaped the 
notice of those who set themselves in bitter opposi- 
tion to the new religion. They would not have failed 



Gospels not of Buddhist Origin 273 

to make use of it as a most effective weapon for 
assailing the claim of Christianity to divine origin. 
And yet in the attacks of Marcion, Celsus, Porphyry, 
and Julian, there is not the shadow of a charge that 
the Christian religion was guilty of arraying itself in 
the borrowed finery of Buddhism. 

But this is not all. The argument under review is 
burdened with a still greater difficulty; for its chief 
premise, that Buddhist lore was current in Palestine 
in the time of Christ, lacks positive evidence and 
must be set down as a gratuitous assumption. 

We have already seen how idle it is to try to make 
out that the Essenes were Buddhists and hence pur- 
veyors of Buddhist traditions. That they were ac- 
quainted with such traditions, there is not a single 
respectable proof. Nor do the rabbinical schools 
betray any familiarity with Buddhist lore. In the 
whole range of Palestinian literature the name of 
Buddha does not once occur. Of the Buddha-legend 
there is not a trace. 

Great emphasis is laid on the possibility of Bud- 
dhism having made its way to Syria and Egypt over 
the great trade-routes that connected India with the 
civilization of the West from early times. This pos- 
sibility cannot be questioned. But it counts for little 
unless it can be shown to have been realized. India 
was also connected by trade-routes with Tibet and 
Siam, so that here, as well, was a possibility for Bud- 
dhism to extend its influence long before the Chris- 

18 



276 Buddhism and Christianity 

established superintendents of religion to promote 
the practice of virtue by men of every sect. 

" Among the Yavanas, the Kambojas, the Gandharas . . . 
and the other peoples on the frontier, they look after the 
Brahmans and the rich, the poor, and the aged, with a view 
to their welfare and happiness." x 

Now these Yavanas, of which the edict makes 
mention, were without doubt subjects of Antiochus. 
Yavana, or Yona, is the Indian word for Ionian, that 
is, Greek. While the term came to designate any 
foreigner from the West, it was most commonly 
used to call to mind the Greek-speaking settlers in 
Bactria, Parthia, and the adjoining regions border- 
ing on India. 2 

That these Greeks of the extreme East were the 
Yavanas referred to in the edict is plain from the 
fact that they were classed, like the Gandharas, with 
the people on the frontier. There is little doubt thai 
the contents of the other edict have reference likewise 
to these remote subjects of King Antiochus. Thus, 
far from indicating the presence of Buddhism in the 
Greek world of the West, the edict simply testifies to 
the observance in Asoka's day of Buddhist practices 
of benevolence in the Kabul valley and adjacent 
regions. 

1 Tr. from Senart, Les Inscriptions de Piyadasi, I. p. 143. 

2 Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, I. p. S61. G. Biihler, S.B. E. 
II. p. lvi. Fergusson and Burgess, Cave Temples of India, pp. 17 
and 59. Cf. Questions of King Milinda, S. B. E. XXXV. pp. 2 and 6. 



Gospels not of Buddhist Origin 277 

Mr. Lillie tries to find additional support to his 
interpretation of the edict in the well-known passage 
in the twelfth chapter of the MaJiavansa, which tells 
of the propagation of Buddhism abroad under the 
auspices of Asoka. According to this chronicle : 

1. Majjhantika evangelized Kashmir and Gandhara, win- 
ning 100,000 converts. 

2. Mahadeva evangelized Mahisa,winning 80,000 converts. 

3. Rakkhita evangelized Vanavasi, winning 60,000 converts. 

4. Yona Dhammarakkhita evangelized Aparantaka, win- 
ning 70,000 converts. 

5. Maha Dhammarakkhita evangelized Maharattha, win- 
ning 97,000 converts. 

6. Maha Rakkhita evangelized Yonaloka, winning 187,000 
converts. 

7. Majjhima evangelized Himavanta. 

8. Sena and Uttara evangelized Savanna-bhumi. 

9. Mahinda and four others evangelized Lanka (Ceylon). 1 

Referring to the sixth missionary enterprise in this 
list, Mr. Lillie, with the absolute assurance of one 
who is repeating a well established fact of history, 
asserts that Asoka's missionary Maha Rakkhita in- 
troduced Buddhism into Greece. His statement is 
entirely misleading. According to the text, the 
place evangelized was Yonaloka, that is, the region 
of the Yonas or Yavanas. But, as we have just seen, 
the word Yonas meant, for the people of India, not 
so much the natives of Greece, as the Greek-speaking 
inhabitants of the Bactrian region, with whom they 

1 G. Tumour, Mahawanso, p. 71. 



278 Buddhism and Christianity 

were brought into frequent contact. That it is to 
these Bactrian Greeks and not to the people of 
Greece that the word Yonaloka here applies, all 
competent scholars are agreed. Among these may 
be cited Lassen, 1 Burnouf, 2 Cunningham, 13 Fergusson,' 1 
Rhys Davids, 5 and E. Hardy. 6 

In the face of such overwhelming authority, it is 
the height of rashness for Mr. Lillie to appeal to this 
text of the Mahavansa in proof of his assertion that 
the religion of Buddha was made known to the 
people of Greece. Moreover, his interpretation 
commits him to the paradox that 187,000 converts 
to Buddhism were made in Greece at the close of the 
third century without exciting a single note of com- 
ment in their contemporaries, and without leaving a 
trace of their belief in the literary or architectural 
monuments of their native land. 

The chief inscription of Asoka which is thought 
to bear witness to the existence of the Buddhist 
religion in the Greek-speaking nations of the West is 
the famous thirteenth edict of Girnar. The transla- 
tion which Mr. Lillie uses is that of James Prinsep. 
But this version, being based solely on the mutilated 
Girnar text, is defective in the very part where accu- 

1 Indische Allerthumskunde, II. p. 244. 
- Introduction a I'Histoire du Bouddhism Indien, p. 628. 
3 Bhilsa Topes, p. 118. Cf. also Archaeological Survey of India, 
I. p. XXXV. 

* Cave Temples of India, p. 17. 

5 Buddhism, p. 227. 6 Buddhismus, p. 112. 



Gospels not of Buddhist Origin 279 

racy is most needed. 1 It was not till long after his 
death that the duplicates of this edict were discovered 
at Khalsi and Kapur di Giri which enabled scholars 
to make good the defects of the Girnar inscription. 
This has been admirably done by Senart, and it is from 
his French version that the following passage from 
the edict is translated. 

" In truth, the king, dear to the gods, has at heart secu- 
rity for all creatures, respect for life, peace, and happiness. 
These are the things that the king, dear to the gods, takes to 
be the conquests of religion. It is in these religious con- 
quests that the king, dear to the gods, finds delight both in 
his own empire and over all the border lands for the distance 
of many hundred yojanas. 2 Among these [neighbors are] 
Antiochus, the king of the Yavanas, and beyond this same 
Antiochus four kings, Ptolemy, Antigonus, Magas, and Alex- 
ander ; in the South, the Codas, Pamdyas as far as Ceylon, 
and so, too, the king of the Huns [?] Vismavasi [?]. Among 
the Yavanas and Kambojas, the Nabhakas and Nabhapamtis, 
the Bhojas and Pentenikas, the Andhras and Puli-ndas, every- 
where the religious instructions of the king, dear to the gods, 
are observed. Wherever the embassies of the king, dear to 
the gods, have been sent, there, too, the duties of religion 
having been made known in the name of the king, dear to 
the gods, men now give heed and will give heed to the relig- 
ious instructions, to religion, this bulwark against. ... In this 

1 " And the Greek King, besides, by whom the four Greek Kings, 
Ptolemaios and Gongakenos and Magas . . . (have been induced to 
permit that) . . . both here and in foreign countries everywhere (the 
people) follow the doctrine of the religion of Devanampiya whereso- 
ever it reacheth." — Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, VII. p. 224. 

2 A measure of distance equal to about five miles. 



280 Buddhism and Christianity 

manner has the conquest been extended everywhere. I have 
found therein a heartfelt joy. Such is the satisfaction that 
comes of religious conquests." ' 

The five contemporary kings mentioned by Asoka 
have been identified by scholars with the following 
names of history: Antiochus II., who was ruler 
of Syria and its vast dependencies in the years 260- 
247 B.C. ; Ptolemy Philadelphia, king of Egypt in the 
years 285-247 B.C. ; Antigonus Gonatus, who reigned 
in Macedonia from 278-242 B.C.; Magas of Cyrene, 
who died in 258 B.C., and Alexander of Epirus, whose 
death occurred about the same time. The date of the 
edict thus falls within the short period 260-258 B. C. 

Now on the first reading, this edict conveys the 
impression that Buddhism had extended its conquests, 
through the peaceful agency of Asoka, over the 
greater part of the Greek-speaking world. But there 
are several considerations that force upon the thought- 
ful mind a much more restricted interpretation. 

First of all, there is very solid ground for suspect- 
ing that Asoka, in describing the extent of his reli- 
gious conquests, allowed himself to be carried by 
excess of enthusiasm beyond the bounds of sober 
reality. 

In the edict of Rupnath-Mysore, Asoka makes 
known that for a year or more he was a Buddhist lay- 
man without much show of zeal, but that within the 
last year, since his connection with the Sangha, he had 

1 Les Inscriptions di Piyadasi, I. pp. 309-310. Cf. II. pp. 24S-249. 



Gospels not of Buddhist Origin 281 

taken a lively interest in the religion he had adopted. 1 
It is fair to conclude that whatever measures he em- 
ployed to spread his religious conquests abroad, were 
not taken in hand till after his thorough conversion 
to Buddhism. This happened, as we learn from the 
eighth Girnar edict, in the thirteenth year of his 
kingly consecration. " I, King Piyadasi, dear to the 
gods, in the thirteenth year of my consecration, at- 
tained to true wisdom [sambodhi.]"" 2 Now as Senart 
shows, it is very likely that the edicts of Girnar were 
engraved together at the time indicated in the fifth 
edict, namely, in the fourteenth year of his consecra- 
tion. 3 And so it follows that Asoka had little more 
than a year at his disposal, to achieve the religious 
conquests on which he prides himself. This practi- 
cally means that his pretensions in regard to the 
spread of Buddhism in Egypt, Syria, and the other 
realms beyond, rested on a very slender basis of fact. 
If he sent Buddhist missionaries to these distant 
countries, — and the possibility of this cannot be 
questioned, — he must have been counting beforehand 
on their success when he framed the edict. It is 
absolutely incredible that in so short a time they 
could have made the toilsome journey to Egypt, or 
Syria, not to speak of Cyrene, Macedonia, and Epirus, 
won many converts to their religion, and made their 
achievements known to him in distant India. Senart 

1 Senart, Op. cit. II. p. 196; Journ. Asiat., 1892, pp. 481, 487. 

2 Op. cit. I. p. 197. 3 Op. cit. II. p. 245. 



282 Buddhism and Christianity 

thinks the only knowledge Asoka had of Magas, 
Antigonus, and Alexander, and, perhaps, of Ptolemy 
as well, he obtained indirectly through his communi- 
cations with Antiochus.* 

"Although," he writes, "the records of the past have 
made us acquainted with the names of an envoy or, per- 
haps, explorer, who was sent to India by the same Ptolemy 
Philadelphus to whom Piyadasi refers, it is doubtful if this 
reference of the latter is based on direct relations. But it is 
very unlikely that direct relations existed between him and 
Magas, or Antigonus, or Alexander. There is reason to sus- 
pect that it was through the intermediation of Antiochus that 
Piyadasi got his knowledge of the other kings whom he men- 
tions. If he sent out special embassies, the time available 
for the voyage — about a year and a half — scarcely justifies 
the supposition that they made their way to so distant parts 
of the Greek world. Moreover, at the very time that the 
edict was taking form, between 260 and 258 b. c, Antiochus 
II., through his attempts on Thrace and his conflicts in the 
Mediterranean, was brought into very intimate relations, 
though not for long, with the kings of Egypt, Cyrene, Mace- 
donia, and Epirus." 1 

Viewed in this light, the edict gives no reliable evi- 
dence of the spread of Buddhism westward, beyond 
the Greek or Yavana settlements on the border-land 
of India and in the extreme eastern part of the vast 
empire of Antiochus. For it is plainly to these that 
the portion of the edict refers which reads: " Among 
the Yavanas and Kambojas . . . everywhere the 

1 Op. cit. II. p. 259. 



Gospels not of Buddhist Origin 283 

religious instructions of the king, dear to the gods, 
are observed. " 1 

There are other considerations that add to the like- 
lihood of this view. The most important of these is 
the absolute ignoring of Buddhism in the ancient 
records of Greece and Egypt. Had Asoka's mission- 
aries been successful in establishing Buddhism in the 
Greek-speaking World, so striking a phenomenon 
would not have failed to excite universal interest. 
Stupas and monasteries would have arisen, and sacred 
books would have been translated into Greek to sat- 
isfy the piety of Greek converts. Buddhist beliefs 
and practices would have been a popular theme for 
historical and philosophic writers. Constant refer- 
ences to Buddhism would have found a place in the 
literary records. And yet what do we find ? Not a 
single ruin of a Buddhist stupa or monastery in Egypt 
or Syria or Greece ; not a single Greek translation of 
a sacred Buddhist book; not a single reference in all 
Greek literature to the existence of a Buddhist com- 
munity in the Greek world. Nay, the very name of 
Buddha occurs for the first time only in the writings 
of Clement of Alexandria. 

Another important consideration inclining to the 
same view, is the silence of the Buddhist chronicles. 
Had Asoka extended his religious conquests to Syria, 
Egypt, and other countries to the west, so remark- 
able a triumph would not have failed to be recorded 

1 Cf. Senart, Op. cit. II. pp. 252-254. Vide supra, p. 276. 



284 Buddhism and Christianity 

in Buddhist annals. And yet, in the very passage of 
the Mahavansa} which describes the propagation of 
the Buddhist faith under King Asoka, as well as in 
similar accounts in the Dipavausa 2 and the Sutta 
Viblianga of Buddhaghosa, 3 not a word is said of 
missionary enterprises in Syria or Egypt, not to speak 
of the more remote countries of Macedonia, Epirus, 
and Cyrene. The natural inference is that Buddhism 
did not gain a foothold in these countries. 

But, we are told, Buddhist annals afford positive 
evidence at least that Buddhism flourished in Egypt 
in the second century before Christ. The Mahavansa 
tells how Buddhist monks came from many distant 
places to take part in the dedication of the great 
stupa (Mahathupa) erected by the Ceylonese king 
Duttha Gamini at Ruanwelli. They came from Be- 
nares, and from Sravasti, Vaisali, Kausambi, Patna, 
Kashmir, Parthia, " and Maha Dhammarakkhito, 
thero of Yona, accompanied by thirty thousand priests 
from the vicinity of Alasadda, the capital of the Yona 
country, attended." 4 As Alasadda is the Pali form 
of Alexandria, the inference is drawn by some that 
the city here referred to is Alexandria in Egypt. But 
there is every reason to believe that reference is here 
made to Alexandria ad Caucasian in the Graeco- 
Bactrian region. First of all, a flourishing commu- 
nity of Buddhist monks could not have lived in the 

1 Vide supra, p. 277. 2 viii. 7, 9. 

8 I. 317. 4 G. Tumour, Mahawanso, p. 171. 



Gospels not of Buddhist Origin 285 

vicinity of Alexandria in Egypt without having left 
behind them traces of their existence in the form of 
ruined stupas and monasteries, nor could they have 
been utterly ignored in the literary monuments of that 
period. Secondly, the Alasadda in question is des- 
ignated as the capital of the Yona country. But, as 
we have already learned from our study of another 
passage from this same chronicle, by the Yona, or 
Yavana, country, is meant the Grseco-Bactrian region. 
That it has this same meaning in the present instance, 
is further shown by the fact that it is mentioned im- 
mediately after Kashmir and Parthia. Thirdly, it is 
an unquestionable fact of history that about the cap- 
ital of this region, Alexandria ad Caucasian, were 
grouped many communities of Buddhist monks, the 
remains of whose monasteries and stupas exist to-day. 
Lastly, we have in favor of this view some of the 
most eminent scholars of Buddhist archaeology, as 
James Prinsep and Alexander Cunningham. 1 The 
former, commenting on this very passage from the 
Mahavansa, says : — 

" ' The vicinity of Alasadda, the capital of the Yona coun- 
try,' follows in the enumeration the mention of Kashmir, while 
it precedes the wilderness of Vinjha, which is evidently Vin- 
dravan, the modern Bindrabund. In situation, then, as well 
as in date, I see nothing here to oppose the understanding of 
Yona as the Greek dominion of Bactria and the Pan jab, and I 
dare even further propose that the name of the capital near 

1 Bhiha Topes, p. 118. Cf. also E. Hardy, Der Buddhismus, p. 112. 



286 Buddhism and Christianity 

which the Buddhist monastery was situated, and which Mr. 
Tumour states in his glossary to be unidentified, is merely a 
corruption of Alexandria. . . . The particular Alexandria 
alluded to may probably be that ad calcem Caucasi, which is 
placed at Beghram by Mr. Masson in the fifth volume of my 
journal, and in the neighborhood of which so many stupen- 
dous stupas have been brought to light through his able 
investigations." 1 

Evidence for the presence of Buddhism in the West 
is also sought in the story of Zarmanochegas, told by 
Strabo.' 2 A native of India, he came on an embassy 
to Rome in the time of Augustus, in the name of a 
certain King Porus. Having accomplished his mis- 
sion, he went to Athens, where he had a pyre erected, 
and having anointed his body with precious unguents, 
as if for a feast, burnt himself alive. His ashes were 
placed in a tomb which bore the inscription, " Here 
lies Zarmanochegas, an Indian of Bargosa, who put 
an end to his life after the fashion of his country." 

By a very dubious derivation of the name from 
Sramana-Sakya, i. c, the Sakya ascetic, a few have 
tried to make this person out to have been a Buddhist 

1 Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, VII. pp. 165-T66. Mr. Lillie alleges as a 
reason for taking Alasadda to be Alexandria in Egypt, that it was 
much more feasible for thirty thousand monks to make the journey 
by sea from Egypt to Ceylon, than to come overland from distant 
Bactria. There is every reason to suspect that the number of monks 
was grossly exaggerated. But whatever their number, it is plain that 
the journey from Bactria was no more difficult than that from Par- 
thia, Kashmir, and other places mentioned. 

2 Strabo, XV. i. 719. 



Gospels not of Buddhist Origin 287 

monk ; 1 but this derivation is not accepted by many- 
scholars. 2 Moreover, as Buddhists were accustomed 
neither to use ointments for the body, nor to burn 
themselves alive, there is every reason for excluding 
Zarmanochegas from the number of Buddha's fol- 
lowers. 

Such is the evidence brought forward to show the 
presence of Buddhist ideas and Buddhist institutions 
in the Greek world at the time that Christ was born. 
Its utter inadequacy to the desired end has been suf- 
ficiently set forth. The utmost that can be made out 
for Buddhism is that it found a firm footing in the 
Greek settlements of Bactria and Parthia, in the re- 
mote east. If Asoka sent missionaries to plant the 
religion of Buddha in the realms of Antiochus and 
Ptolemy, there is every reason to believe that their 
efforts came to naught. We look in vain for a single 
trace of the presence of Buddhism in Egypt, Greece, 
or Palestine. 

1 Levi, Le Bouddhisme et les Grecs — Rev. Hist. Rel. XXIII. p. 47. 

2 Cf. Lassen, Ind. Alt. III. p. 60. E. Hardy, Buddhismus, p. 113. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE POSSIBLE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY 
ON BUDDHISM 

Parthian Jews converted by Peter — Reliability of the tradition that 
the apostle Thomas preached to the people of Parthia, Bactria, 
and Northwest India — Gondophares — The early mission of 
Pantasnus in India — The testimony of Cosmas — The ancient 
episcopal sees of Merv, Herat, and Sistan — Christian influence 
in Panjab in the fifth century shown by the Jamalgiri sculptures — 
The spread of Nestorianism over the East in the fifth and follow- 
ing centuries — The Nestorian monument of Si-ngan-fu — Likeli- 
hood that some of the incidents related of Christ have been 
incorporated into the Buddha-legend — Is the Asita-story one 
of these ? 

THERE is a further consideration that adds 
no little strength to the evidence already 
accumulated in favor of the independent origin of the 
Gospels. This is the possibility that Buddhism itself 
has drawn some of its striking resemblances from 
Christian sources. 

It is rather strange that those who are so zealous 
in trying to show the presence of Buddhism in Pales- 
tine and Egypt at the time of Christ, should ignore 
the much stronger evidence that Christian influences 
were at work in centres of Buddhist activity soon 



Christianity on Buddhist Soil 289 

after the death of Christ, and that they flourished 
with increasing vigor during the first centuries of the 
Christian era. That Northern Buddhism profited to 
some extent by this contact with Christianity, is 
thus by no means unlikely. 

In the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, 
we read that on the day of Pentecost, about three 
thousand Jews were converted and baptized through 
the preaching of Peter. His hearers consisted largely 
of devout Jews from distant parts of the known world, 
who had made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to take 
part in the sacred feasts of the Pasch and of Pente- 
cost. There were present not only Arabians and 
Medes and Elamites, but also Parthians. Now the 
Parthian kingdom, which was at this time being 
brought under the subjection of the Indo-Scythian 
monarchs, was included in the so-called Yavana 
country, where Buddhism had taken firm root. It 
will be remembered that among the monks who went 
to Ceylon to the dedication of the Mahathupa, the 
Parthians are mentioned. It is thus natural to con- 
clude that as early as 35-40 A. D. Jewish converts to 
Christianity were already in contact with Parthian 
and Bactrian Buddhists. Between these and the 
Buddhists of Northern India there existed the closest 
relations. 

But the development of Christianity in the remote 
east was not left to the weak efforts of these neo- 
phytes. According to an ancient tradition in the 

19 



290 Buddhism and Christianity 

Christian Church, St. Thomas was sent to Parthia 
and Bactria, and after preaching the Gospel there, 
proceeded to India, where he died a martyr's death. 

This tradition has much to commend it, particu- 
larly as regards the preaching of St. Thomas in 
Parthia. It is found in the Roman Marty ro logy. It 
is alluded to by many fathers of the Greek and Latin 
Church. So careful a writer as Eusebius, referring 
to Origen, tells us that Parthia was assigned to the 
apostle Thomas for evangelization. The ancient 
Syrian Church, too, bears witness to the apostolate 
of St. Thomas in the Orient. St. Ephrem, the Syrian, 
whose period of activity falls within the third quarter 
of the fourth century, and who lived seven or eight 
years in Edessa, wrote a poem referring to the pos- 
session by the Church of Edessa of the bones of St. 
Thomas, which had been brought there from India. 
Similar testimony to the presence of the apostle's 
relics in the Church of Edessa, is afforded by the 
Chronicle of Edessa, as well as by the early church 
historians, Rufinus, Socrates, and Sozomen. 1 

1 Ambrose, in Psalm, xlv. ; Jerome, Ep. 59 ad Marcellam (Migne) ; 
Gregory Naz., Oratio, 33; Paulinus Nolanus, Poem. 19 and 30; 
Gregory the Great, in Evang. horn. 17; Eusebius, Ch. Hist. III. i; 
Bickell, S. Ephrami Syri Carmina Nisibena. Lipsiae, 1S66. Carm. 
42 ; Assemani, Bib. Orient. I. pp. 399, 403 ; Rufinus, Ch. Hist. II. 
5; Socrates, Ch. Hist. IV. 18; Sozomen, Ch. Hist. VI. iS ; cf. 
R. A. Lipsius, Die apokryphen Apostelgeschuhtcn und Apostelhgenden. 
Braunschweig, 1S83. I. pp. 225 ff. According to the Abgar-legend, 
St. Thomas was intimately connected with the Church of Edessa. 
Cf. Eusebius, Ch. Hist. I. 13; II. i. 



Christianity on Buddhist Soil 291 

The Acts of Thomas, a Gnostic work already 
ancient in the time of St. Ephrem, tells how the 
apostle, disguised as an architect, went to India, 
where he converted King Gondophoros, together 
with many of his subjects. 1 The story is embel- 
lished with episodes too extravagant to be mistaken 
for history, but the underlying tradition that St. 
Thomas preached in the kingdom of Gondophares 
is not lightly to be set aside. The existence of a 
Parthian king of this name in the time of the apostle 
has been strangely brought to light in the present 
century. Numerous coins bearing his name and the 
names of near relatives have been found in the Pan- 
jab, Kabul valley, and neighboring districts, showing 
him to have been the head of an important Parthiaa 
dynasty about the middle of the first century. The 
great archaeologist, General A. Cunningham, to whose 
careful researches our knowledge of these coins is 
largely due, says of them : — 

"The coins of Gondophares are common in Kabul and 
Kandahar and Sistan, and in the Western and Southern 
Panjab. All these countries, therefore, must have owned 
his sway. He was, besides, the head and founder of his 
family, as no less than three members of it claim relationship 

1 Cf. W. Wright, The Apochryphal Acts of the Apostles, 2 vol. 
London, 1871. II. pp. 146 ff. ; Lipsius, Op. cit. pp. 225 ff. ; Ante- 
Nicene Fathers, N. Y. 1895. VIII. 535. These Acts are at least as 
old as the middle of the third century, and possibly go back to about 
200 a. D. Cf. Lipsius, Op. cit. p. 346 ; Holtzmann, Einleitung in das 
Neue Testament, Freiburg, 1892. p. 496. 



292 Buddhism and Christianity 

with him on their coins — viz. Orthagnes, his full brother, 
Abdagases, his nephew, and Sasa [or Sasan], a more dis- 
tant relation. The coins of Orthagnes are found in Sistan 
and Kandahar, those of Abdagases and Sasan in the Western 
Panjab. I presume, therefore, that they were the viceroys 
of those provinces on the part of the great King Gondo- 
phares, who himself resided at Kabul. All the names are 
those of Parthians, but the language of the coins is Indian 
Pali. Abdagases is the name of the Parthian chief who 
headed the successful revolt against Artabanus in a. d. 44. 
The great power of Gondophares, and the discovery of a 
coin of Artabanus countermarked with the peculiar mono- 
gram of all the Gondopharian dynasty, make it highly prob- 
able that the Indo-Parthian Abdagases was the same as the 
Parthian chief whose revolt is recorded by Tacitus (Annal. 
xv, 2) and Josephus (Antiq. xx, iii, 2). This surmise is very 
much strengthened by the date of the revolt [a. d. 44], 
which would make Gondophares a contemporary of St. 
Thomas." 1 

Similar testimony is afforded by the stone found 
in 1873 at Shahbazgarhi (Taht-i-Bahi) in the Panjab, 
bearing in Ariano-Pali characters an inscription which 
records the erection by a pious Buddhist of a reli- 
gious structure " in the twenty-sixth year of the great 
King Guduphara, in the Samvat year 103." Such 

1 Coins of Indian Buddhist Satraps with Greek Inscriptions. — Jonrn. 
As. Soc, Bengal, XXIII. pp. 711-712. Cf. also Archaeological Survey . 
of India, II. pp. 59-60; XIV. pp.48 and 116; Reinaud, Mhnoires his- 
toriques et geographiqnes snr I'lnde, an interesting article to be found 
in Vol. XVIII. pp. 94-96, of Mhnoires de P Academic des Inscriptions : 
Percy Gardner, Coins of the Creek and Scythic kings of Bactria and 
India, pp. xliv, 103-106. 



Christianity on Buddhist Soil 293 

at least is the reading made out by General Cunning- 
ham and other eminent scholars, 1 though the stone 
is so badly defaced as to leave doubt in the minds 
of some whether the name of the king has been 
correctly deciphered. As the first year of the 
Samvat era is 56 B. C, the date of the inscription 
is in perfect agreement with the. results obtained 
independently from the study of the coins above 
mentioned. There is thus good ground for assert- 
ing that Gondophares was a contemporary of St. 
Thomas, having dominion over the Kabul valley, 
Kandahar, and the Panjab, i. e., the very countries 
(Parthia and India) to which the apostle is said to 
have carried the Gospel ; and hence it is but reason- 
able to accept the conclusion of eminent scholars 
such as General Cunningham, 2 Reinaud, and others 
that the tradition concerning St. Thomas' missionary- 
labors in the kingdom of Parthia stands for a fact of 
history. To reject this tradition, against which no 
argument of improbability can fairly be urged, and 
which is supported by so many ancient and inde- 
pendent testimonies, is to exercise a scepticism 
which, if consistently applied to other records of the 
past, would lead to the discrediting of many accepted 
truths of history. We need have no hesitation, then, 
in taking it as reliable evidence of the presence of 

1 Archceological Survey of India, V '. pp. 59-60. Professor Dowson, 
in Joum. Roy. As. Soc. (New Series), VII. pp. 376 ff. Percy Gardner, 
Op. cit. p. xliv. 

2 ArchcBol. Survey, II. pp. 59-60. Vide supra, p. 187. 



294 Buddhism and Christianity 

Christianity in the very heart of Northern Buddhism 
as early as 50 A. D. 1 

But the evidence of early Christian activity in 
Buddhist lands does not end here. Bardesanes of 
Edessa, a contemporary of Marcus Aurelius, men- 
tions the spread of Christianity in Parthia, Media, 
Persia, and Bactria. 2 

Moreover, Eusebius relates in his Church History 2, 
that Panta?nus, previous to founding his Christian 
school of philosophy at Alexandria towards the close 
of the second century, was moved by apostolic zeal to 
preach the Gospel in the far East. He went to India, 
and there found Christians who had been evangel- 
ized by St. Bartholomew, and who still preserved 
the Gospel of Matthew written in Hebrew. 

1 The attempt of Gutschmid (Die A'onigsnamen in den apokrypken 
Apostelgesckichten, an article published in the A'/ieinisc/ies Museum 
Jiir Philologie, N. F. XIX. pp. 161 ff.) to make out that the Acts of 

Tliomas are an adaptation of a Buddhist sutra is far from convincing. 
No Buddhist sutra corresponding even remotely to the Acts has ever 
been discovered. The features of alleged Buddhist origin, such as 
the severe asceticism, especially in regard to marriage, the miracles, 
the exorcism of demons, the Christophanies, are to be found as well 
in other apocryphal writings, where Buddhist influence is out of the 
question. Moreover, some features of the Acts have no parallel in 
Buddhist literature. The statement in the Acts that St. Thomas 
journeyed by sea from Jerusalem to the country of Gondophares is 
easily explained on the ground that the work was written in some 
Gnostic centre in Persia by one ignorant of the geography of Pales- 
tine. The only other reason given by Gutschmid for ascribing a 
Buddhist origin to the work in question is the fact that, in the time of 
Christ, Buddhism was already established in the kingdom of Gon- 
dophares. The insufficiency of this reason is manifest. 

2 Eusebius, Prap. Evang. VI. 10. 8 V. 10. 



Christianity on Buddhist Soil 295 

Owing to a lack of sufficient data, the precise loca- 
tion of these Jewish Christians of India cannot be 
made out with certainty, but it is enough for our pur- 
pose to note that they were established on Buddhist 
soil. It is true, a few are inclined with Mosheim 1 to 
hold that they did not belong to India proper, but to 
Yemen (Arabia Felix), which was the seat of a 
thriving Jewish community and which was sometimes 
loosely designated as India. But in Alexandria, 
where Eusebius must have got his information, the 
term India could hardly have been employed in any 
but the strict sense, owing to the close commercial 
relations existing between India and this great cos- 
mopolitan centre. It was in India proper that Jerome 
placed the scene of Pantaenus' labors, for he says he 
was sent to India to preach the Gospel to the Brah- 
mans and philosophers. 2 It is thus very likely that 
reference is made to some colony of Jews, in part at 
least Christian, established for purposes of trade at 
one of the great marts of Western India, perhaps, 
Sinde. According to ancient tradition, India Citerior 
was the scene of Bartholomew's earlier labors. We 
know from the author of the Periplus 3 and from 
Cosmas Indicopleustes that the marts of Western 

1 Ecclesiastical History. N. Y. 1844, Vol. I. p. 98. 

2 " Pantaenus, Stoics sectae philosophus, ob prsecipuae eruditionis 
gloriam, a Demetrio Alexandria? episcopo missus est in Indiam ut 
Christum apud Brachmanas et illius gentis philosophos praedicaret." 
Ep. Ixx ad Magnum (Migne). 

8 Cf. J. W. McCrindle, The Commerce and Navigation of the Ery- 
thraean Sea. London, 1879, pp. I0 7 ^- 



296 Buddhism and Christianity- 

India were regularly visited by merchant ships from 
Alexandria. The journey of Pantaenus is thus easily 
explained. Like other early churches composed of 
Jewish converts, this Christian community did not 
succeed in transmitting the faith through many gen- 
erations. In the time of Cosmas it seems to have 
been no longer in possession of its apostolic tradi- 
tions, else it would in all probability have been 
mentioned by him. 1 

These converts of St. Bartholomew were not the 
only Christians settled on the coast of Western In- 
dia. The Egyptian monk, Cosmas Indicopleustes, 2 
who, as a merchant, travelled by sea from Alexandria 
to Ceylon in the year 522, testifies to the presence in 
his day of Christian churches in Ceylon, Malabar, 
and Calliana. They were composed of Syrian-speak- 
ing families, the descendants, apparently, of settlers 
attracted at some remote period from their native 
land to these great marts of India. Those who ad- 
ministered to their spiritual wants were educated and 
ordained in Persia, speaking of course the Syrian 
tongue, and being at that time Nestorians. If we may 

1 G. M. Rae (The Syrian Church in India, Edinburgh, 1892, pp. 
70 ff.) is of the opinion that this Christian community discovered by 
Pantasnus was composed, not of Jews, but of Parthians situated in 
the Indus valley. The Gospel in question he takes to have been 
written in Aramaic, the knowledge of which was widely spread in 
Parthia. Josephus tells his readers that he wrote his Wars of the 

Jerus in Aramaic, for the benefit of the Babylonians and Parthians. 

2 Topographia Christiana, III. Pat. Gr. Migne. Vol. 88, col. 169; 
also col. 445-448. 



Christianity on Buddhist Soil 297 

trust the tradition of their modern representatives, 
the Syrian Christians of Malabar, 1 it was St. Thomas 
himself who brought to their ancestors, already set- 
tled on the coast of India, the knowlege of the Gos- 
pel. These churches gave evidence in Cosmas' day 
of having been long established ; for they were 
thoroughly organized, being governed by a bishop, 
who had his see at Calliana. 

Thus in the first and second centuries, we find 
Christianity established in Parthia, Bactria, North- 
western India, and probably along its Western coast 
from the Gujerat peninsula to Ceylon. 

But it was especially in the next two centuries that 
the new religion advanced with rapid strides. 2 Its 
growth was hastened in the fourth century by the 
persecutions of King Sapor II., which drove many 
Christians to Chorassan, Sistan, and neighboring 
places. Among them was Barsabbas, who came to 
Merv in the year 334, and was soon after made bishop 
over the numerous communities that grew apace in 
the city and neighboring villages. By the end of 
the century, Merv was a see of importance. In 
like manner, the episcopal see of Herat rose out 
of the multiplying parishes in Southern Chorassan. 
Both these sees, as well as that of Sistan, were 

1 This tradition is called in question by some scholars. Cf. Ger- 
mann, Die Kirche der Thomaschristen. Gutersloh, 1877. G. M. Rae, 
Op. cit. ch. ix. 

2 One of the bishops who sat in the Council of Nice was John 
Bishop of Persia and Great India. 



298 Buddhism and Christianity 

represented in the synod of Dad-Jesus held in the 
year 430. 1 

Of the condition of Christianity in Panjab, Chris- 
tian records have nothing to say. We have indeed 
the testimony of St. John Chrysostom, who, in his 
second homily on the Gospel of St. Jolm, says : 

" The Syrians and the Egyptians, the Indians and the Per- 
sians, the Ethiopians and innumerable other peoples have 
translated into their own tongue the teachings received from 
Christ, and have thus learned true philosophy, barbarians 
though they be." 

But where Christian documents are silent, the very 
Buddhist monuments give testimony. The Buddhist 
sculptures on the walls of the ruined monasteries at 
Jamalgiri, near Peshawar, in Northern Panjab, tell 
better than words how Christianity was making itself 
felt in the very centre of Northern Buddhism. For 
the astonishing spectacle is here revealed of scenes 
from the life of Christ carved in stone on Buddhist 
walls that are thought to be as early as the fifth cen- 
tury, thus going back to the time when Merv, Herat, 
and Sistan were important episcopal sees. These 
sculptures, which are reproduced by Fergusson and 
Burgess in their interesting work The Cave Temples 
of India? are thus described : — 

" One of the most interesting peculiarities of the Pesha- 
war, or rather Gandhara sculptures, is that it would not be 

1 T. J. Lamy et A. Gueluy, Le monument chritien de Si-ngan-fou. 
Bruxelles, 1898. pp. 101, 105. 

2 pp. 138-139. 



Christianity on Buddhist Soil 299 

difficult to select from among them several that would form 
admirable illustrations for a pictorial bible at the present day. 
One, for instance, is certainly intended to represent the 
nativity. The principal figure, a woman, is laying her child 
in a manger, and that it is intended to be such is proved by 
a mare with its foal, attended by a man, feeding out of a sim- 
ilar vessel. Above are represented two horses' heads in the 
position that the ox and the ass are represented in mediaeval 
paintings. 

" A second represents the boy Christ disputing with the 
doctors in the temple. A third, Christ healing the man 
with the withered limb, either of which, if exhibited in the 
Lateran, and relabeled, might pass unchallenged as sculptures 
of the fourth or fifth centuries." 

Another sculpture is also reproduced which, in all 
probability, depicts the woman accused before our 
Lord of adultery. 

For the first four centuries, the Christians in the 
Buddhist lands of Eastern Persia and Northwestern 
India were orthodox. But soon after the council of 
Ephesus, in 431, the majority of these Christians went 
over to Nestorianism. The Nestorian Catholicos or 
Patriarch established his see at Selucia-Ctesiphon. 
The next few centuries witnessed a remarkable growth 
and spread of Nestorianism. It absorbed the Christian 
churches already established in India and on the con- 
fines to the Northwest. It took firm root in Turkes- 
tan, whence it made its way to China itself. The 
Nestorian monument of Si-ngan-fu offers incontesta- 
ble evidence that as early as 635 zealous Nestorian 



300 Buddhism and Christianity 

missionaries had reached the western capital of 
China. 1 So rapid was the growth of Nestorianism 
that before this century was over, the patriarch of 
Ctesiphon had under him two hundred bishops, of 
whom twenty were metropolitans. Under the patri- 
arch Saliba Zacha, who presided over the Nestorian 
sect from 714 to 728, Herat, Sarmakand, and China 
were erected into metropolitan sees. They maintained 
their existence till the fourteenth century. 2 

It is easy to see how Tibetan Buddhism, which 
took its rise in the seventh century, and which did 
not receive its full development till the thirteenth, 
may have drawn largely from Nestorian sources for 
those striking features which distinguish it from 
India Buddhism, and at the same time offer analogies 
with certain points of Catholic ritual and discipline. 
But can we say that the Buddhism of Northern India 
owes anything to Christian influence? 

Weber 3 maintains that " The supposition that 
Christian influences may have affected the growth 
of Buddhist ritual and worship, as they did that of 
the Buddha legends, is by no means to be dismissed 
out of hand." 

1 Lamy et Gueluy, Monument chretien de Si-ngan-fou ; also J. 
Legge, Christianity in China in the yth and 8th Centuries, London, 
18S8. It was just ten years later that Hiouen Thsang returned to 
Si-ngan-fu from his long pilgrimage to India, and it is not unlikely 
that the Nestorian Olopen met him at the court of the emperor Ta'e 
Tsung. 

2 Monument chretien de Si-ngan-fou, pp. 43 and 105. 

3 Hist, of Ind. Lit. p. 307 n. 



Christianity on Buddhist Soil 301 

Professor Beal, 1 Goblet d'Alviella, 2 E. Hardy, 3 and 
other scholars of recognized ability hold similar views. 
The well known tendency of Buddhism to assimilate 
elements in other religious systems with which it 
came in contact, creates the presumption that so posi- 
tive and self-asserting a religion as the Christian did 
not exist for several centuries by the side of Bud- 
dhism without exercising some influence upon it. 
The presence of New Testament illustrations among 
the sculptures at Jamalgiri gives additional force to 
this presumption. 4 

Nevertheless, when one tries to estimate the extent 
of that influence, one finds the problem by no means 
easy. The greatest caution is necessary. To con- 
clude that every Buddhist legend or thought or rite, 
not plainly prechristian, and offering some incom- 
plete analogy with Christian doctrine or ritual, must 
have been derived from Christian sources, would be 
to repeat the blunders which vitiate the works of 
Seydel, Bunsen, and Lillie. But the possibility of 
such borrowing cannot be denied, and hence resem- 
blances of this character cannot be made to tell 
against the independent origin of the Gospels. 

1 Abstract of Four Lectures on Buddhist Literature inChina, p. xiv. 

2 Bull, de r Academic Royale des Sciences des Lettres et des Beaux- 
Arts dc Belgique, 1S97, pp. 723 ff. 

3 Der Buddhismus, p. in. Vide supra, p. 187. 

4 The Krishna cult, which received its present form, according to 
the best authorities, in the fifth or sixth century a. d., was strongly 
influenced by Christian traditions. Cf. Weber, Lndische Studien, II. 
PP- 399-490- 



302 Buddhism and Christianity 

These remarks apply with especial aptness to the 
use that is made of the Asita legend to prejudice the 
Gospel story of Simeon. We have seen that the two 
stories, though presenting striking resemblances, are 
also marked by very important divergencies. The 
possibility of their independent origin cannot thus 
be denied. But those who think the resemblances 
are such as to create the strong presumption of 
relationship, are too hasty when they infer that the 
writer of the third Gospel must have been the bor- 
rower. The possibility is at least as great that the 
story of Asita is based on the story of Simeon. 

The earliest monument of the existence of the 
Asita legend is the Buddha Charita, which, as we 
have seen, is not earlier than 70 A. D., and may be as 
late as ioo A. D. In the cave numbered XVI of 
Ajanta, there is a pictorial representation of Asita 
with the infant Buddha in his arms; but this, picture 
is of an age not greater than the fifth century of the 
Christian era. 1 The contact of Christians with the 
Buddhists of Bactria and Northwestern India as early 
as 40-50 A. D., thus gives rise to the possibility, if not 
the presumption, that this Buddhist parallel, which is 
commonly set up as one of the strongest witnesses 
against the originality of the Gospels, is of Christian 
origin. 

1 Cf. Fergusson and Burgess, Cave Temples of India, p. 308 ; also 
J. Burgess, Notes on the Bauddha Rock-temples of Ajanta, pp. 3 and 60. 
S. H. Kellogg, in his Light of Asia and the Light of the World, p. 158, 
erroneously assigns this representation to a tope dating from about 
300 B. C. 



Christianity on Buddhist Soil 303 

To sum up : neither in the religious system of the 
Essenes, nor in the inscriptions of Asoka, nor in the 
Buddhist chronicles, nor in the architectural or 
literary monuments of the ancient Greek world, is 
there a particle of solid evidence that the knowledge 
of Buddhism in the time of Christ had extended west- 
ward beyond the Graeco-Bactrian district, on the 
confines of India. The absence alone of such evi- 
dence is fatal to the theory that Buddhism has con- 
tributed largely to the formation of the Gospels. 
Taken in connection with the apostolic origin of the 
Gospels of Matthew and Ltcke, and with the fewness 
of the Buddhist-Christian resemblances that do not 
admit of easy explanation, it offers all but irresistible 
proof of the independent origin of the Gospels. 



CHAPTER VIII 

BUDDHISM VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF CHRISTIANITY 

The miracles of Christ above comparison with those ascribed to 
Buddha: the latter unvouched by contemporary witnesses and 
tainted by absurdities — Examples — Buddhism a religion not of 
enlightenment, but of superstition and error — Karma and its 
implied transmigration a false assumption — The failure of Bud- 
dhism to recognize man's dependence on the supreme God — 
Buddhism lacking in the powerful Christian motives to right 
conduct — Buddhist morality utilitarian — Nirvana not an appeal 
to unselfishness — Buddhist pessimism a crime against nature — 
Its injustice to the individual, to the family, to society — Bud- 
dhist propagandism far inferior to the Christian — Alliance of 
Buddhism with local superstitions — Buddhist benevolence greatly 
surpassed by Christian works of charity — The impotence of Bud- 
dhism to elevate the people of Asia — Sad state of morals in 
Buddhist lands — Slavery and polygamy untouched by Buddhism 
— The degenerate condition of the Buddhist order — The tran- 
scendent excellence of Christianity. 

THERE has been a tendency on the part of 
some to extol the religion of Buddha as the 
equal, if not the superior, of the revelation of Christ. 
What is best in the teaching of the Gospels is claimed 
to be in like manner the possession of Buddhism. 
The transcendent excellence of the former is not 
acknowledged, its claim to be the unique expression 
of the divine will is impugned. Buddhism is set up 



Buddhism from Christian View-point 305 

as a legitimate rival of Christianity, and efforts are 
even made to secure it a foothold in Christian 
lands. 

It is this narrow and imperfect view that is respon- 
sible in part for the futile attempts to establish the 
indebtedness of Christianity to Buddhism, for when 
the incomparable superiority of the religion of Christ 
is once recognized, there is little reason to look to a 
religion like Buddhism for the source of its lofty 
teachings. 

Let us then make a brief review of Buddhism from 
the Christian standpoint, and note its serious short- 
comings. 

It is the fashion nowadays to oppose to the 
miracles wrought by Christ in confirmation of His 
divine mission, the wonderful things which the Bud- 
dhist scriptures ascribe to their religious hero. Not 
that the latter are held to be true, but they are put 
forth by way of analogy to impair the miraculous 
credentials of Jesus. It is argued that if the one is to 
be trusted as a divine teacher because of His won- 
drous works, the other, being likewise accredited with 
miracles, has an equal right to confidence and faith. 

The argument is utterly sophistic, for the reason 
that there is no parity between the miracles told of 
Christ and those ascribed to Buddha. The former 
are of a character in every way worthy of one who 
declared Himself to be the Saviour of mankind, and 
being recorded by His apostles and disciples, who^ 



306 Buddhism and Christianity 

were constant eye-witnesses of His wonderful works, 
are beyond the suspicion of invention. 

While there is thus solid reason to give credence 
to the Gospel narrative of the miracles of Christ, 
there is no ground for treating the alleged miracles 
of Buddha as other than idle myths. It was not till 
centuries after Buddha's death that they found a 
place in the sacred records, and, moreover, the vast 
majority are so childish and stupid as to bear on 
their face the stamp of their fanciful origin. 

The extravagances of the LalitaVistara, the prom- 
inent sacred narrative of the Northern school, would 
provoke a smile in most children of even tender years. 
The twelfth chapter, which tells of the exploits of the 
young prince Gotama in his competition with other 
youths for the hand of Gopa, the princess of marvel- 
lous beauty, reads like a tale of Munchausen. Take, 
for example, the well known elephant-incident. A 
huge white elephant is being led into the city as a 
present for Gotama, when his cousin, Devadatta, 
filled with envy and proud of his strength, seizes the 
trunk of the monster with his left hand, and with his 
right gives it so powerful a slap as to knock it lifeless 
to the ground. Sundarananda, another youthful rival, 
happens by. He takes the carcass by the tail and 
drags it unaided outside the city-gate. Then comes 
Gotama, riding in his chariot. Seeing the carcass 
so near the city-gate, a threatening source of stench 
by its inevitable decay, without dismounting from his 



Buddhism from Christian View-point 307 

chariot, he seizes its tail with the toe of his foot, and 
hurls it several miles through the air, so that in the 
violence of its fall, it makes a huge depression in the 
ground, known henceforth as the Elephant-ditch ! 

What a contrast between the dignified wonders of 
our blessed Saviour and the following display of power 
said to have been made by Buddha to confound some 
doubting heretics. 

" Buddha ascended to the immense road which he had 
created in the air in the presence of the crowd, that filled a 
place of eighteen youdzanas in breadth and twenty-four in 
length. These wonders which he was about to display, were 
the result of his own wisdom, and could not be imitated by 
anyone. He caused a stream of water to issue from the 
upper part of his body, and flames of fire from the lower 
part, and on a sudden, the reverse to take place ; again fire 
issued from his right eye, and streams of water from his left 
eye, and so on from his nostrils, ears, right and left, in front 
and behind. The same wonder, too, happened in such a 
way that the streams of fire succeeded the streams of water, 
but without mingling with each other. Each stream in an 
upward direction reached the seats of the Brahmas ; each 
stream in a downward direction penetrated as far as hell ; 
each in a horizontal direction reached the extremities of the 
world. From each of his hairs the same wonderful display 
feasted the astonished eyes of the assembled people. The 
six glories gushed, as it were, from every part of his body, 
and made it appear resplendent beyond description. Hav- 
ing no one to converse with, he created a personage, who 
appeared to walk with him. Sometimes he sat down, while 
his companion was pacing along ; and at other times, he 
himself walked, whilst his interlocutor was either standing or 



308 Buddhism and Christianity 

sitting. . . . The people who heard him and saw the won- 
derful works he performed, obtained the understanding of 
the four great principles." 1 

Lest it may be objected that these tales do not do 
justice to Buddhism, being drawn from the later, 
legendary writings, let us note one or two examples 
taken from portions of the sacred canon that are 
reckoned among the earliest of the Buddhist script- 
ures. 

The Mahavagga recounts the various miracles, all 
of them puerile, that Buddha wrought to secure the 
conversion of the Brahman ascetic Uruvela Kassapa 
and his five hundred followers. The first wonder, his 
triumphant encounter with the Naga king, a venomous 
serpent of deadly magical power, is told as follows : 

" Then the Blessed One entered the room where the fire 
was kept, made himself a couch of grass, and sat down cross- 
legged, keeping the body erect and surrounding himself with 
watchfulness of mind. And the Naga saw that the Blessed 
One had entered ; when he saw that, he became annoyed 
and irritated, and sent forth a cloud of smoke. Then the 
Blessed One thought : ' What if I were to leave intact the 
skin, and hide, and flesh, and ligaments, and bones, and 
marrow of this Naga ; but were to conquer the fire, which 
he will send forth, by my fire.' 

" And the Blessed One effected the appropriate exercise 
of miraculous power and sent forth a cloud of smoke. Then 
the Naga, who could not master his rage, sent forth flames. 
And the Blessed One, converting his body into fire, sent' 
forth flames. When they both shone forth with their flames, 

1 Bigandet, Legend of Gautama , I. pp. 218-219. 



Buddhism from Christian View-point 309 

the fire room looked as if it were burning and blazing, as if it 
were all in flames. And the Jathilas, surrounding the fire 
room, said : ' Truly, the countenance of the great Samana is 
beautiful, but the Naga will do harm to him.' 

" That night having elapsed, the Blessed One, leaving 
intact the skin and hide and flesh and ligaments and bones 
and marrow of that Naga, and conquering the Naga's fire by 
his fire, threw him into his alms-bowl, and showed him to the 
Jathila Uruvela Kassapa [saying], ' Here you see the Naga, 
Kassapa ; his fire has been conquered by my fire.' 

"Then the Jathila Uruvela Kassapa thought: 'Truly, the 
great Samana possesses high magical powers and great fac- 
ulties, in that he is able to conquer by his fire the fire of that 
savage Naga king, who is possessed of magical power, that 
dreadfully venomous serpent. He is not, however, holy 
[araha] as I am.' " 1 

The display which the Selasntta ascribes to Buddha 
to convince the Brahman Sela of hisBuddhaship is as 
puerile as it is undignified. Out of delicacy, a few 
portions of the original are omitted. 

"Then the Brahmana Sela went to the place where 
Bhagavat was, and having gone there he talked pleasantly 
with Bhagavat, and after having had some pleasant and re- 
markable conversation with him, he sat down apart, and 
while sitting down apart, Sela, the Brahmana, looked for the 
thirty-two signs of a great man on the body of Bhagavat. 
And the Brahmana Sela saw the thirty-two signs of a great 
man on the body of Bhagavat with the exception of two ; in 
respect to two of the signs of a great man he had doubts, he 
hesitated, he was not satisfied, he was not assured ... as to 
his having a large tongue. 

1 S. B. E. XII. pp. 1 19-120. 



31 o Buddhism and Christianity 

" Then this occurred to Bhagavat : ' This Brahmana Sela 
sees in me the thirty-two signs of a great man, with the ex- 
ception of two ; in respect to two of the signs of a great man, 
he has doubts, he hesitates, he is not satisfied, he is not as- 
sured ... as to my having a large tongue.' . . . Then 
Bhagavat, having put out his tongue,, touched and stroked 
both his ears, touched and stroked both nostrils, and the 
whole circumference of his forehead he covered with his 
tongue." l 

A religious system that teaches such inanities of its 
founder, betrays at once the superstitious character 
of the minds on which it counts for its preservation. 
Between extravagances like these, and the miraculous 
stories in the Gospels, there is but the remotest 
analogy. 

There are some, indeed, who would have us believe 
that Buddhism is a religion of enlightenment, the 
enemy of ignorance and superstition. This judgment 
is not warranted by the facts. On the contrary, Bud- 
dhism is a system that appeals only to the ignorant 
and the superstitious. I do not now speak of the 
emasculated Buddhism of writers like Dr. Carus, which 
is nothing more than a polite agnosticism under the 
thin veil of Buddhist terminology ; but I have in mind 
the historic teaching of Buddha. 

If we turn to the fundamental tenets of Buddhism, 
we find grave defects that betray its inadequacy to 
become the religion of enlightened humanity, and 

i 6". B. E. X. p. ioi. 



Buddhism from Christian View-point 311 

that bring out in bold relief its inferiority to the 
religion of Jesus Christ. 

In the first place, the very foundation on which 
Buddhism rests — the doctrine of karma, with its im- 
plied transmigration — is false and gratuitous. Bor- 
rowed from the pantheistic teaching current in 
Buddha's day, it seems to have been accepted from 
the first as an unquestionable principle. In all the 
Buddhist scriptures, there is not a passage in which 
its demonstration is essayed. This pretended law of 
nature, by which the multitudinous gods, ghosts, men, 
animals, and demons are but the transient forms of 
rational beings essentially the same, but forced to this 
diversity in consequence of their varying degrees of 
merit and demerit in former lives, is a huge supersti- 
tion in flat contradiction to atavism and the other 
well-known laws of heredity, and hence rightly 
ignored in all works of science. Now and then an 
irresponsible voice is heard proclaiming the harmony 
which exists between this doctrine and the theory of 
evolution. But it is hardly part of biological teach- 
ing that a good ( !) rat or snake may succeed in 
being reborn as a man or a god. Scientists have not 
yet reached that state of imbecility in which they 
think they see in the manifold forms of animal life 
the representatives of men who in former genera- 
tions did not live up to the dignity of their human 
condition. 

Another fundamental defect in the teaching of 



312 Buddhism and Christianity- 

Buddha is its failure to recognize man's dependence 
on a supreme Lord and Creator, while retaining 
superstitious belief in the innumerable devas of the 
Hindu pantheon. Buddha lacked the penetration of 
mind to enable him to discern in these deities nothing 
but empty names, and at the same time to rise to the 
conception of the Supreme God, towards which the 
more thoughtful of the Brahmans were groping. 
The most he could do was to adopt the pantheistic 
view prevalent in his day, that these gods, though 
real, were powerless to effect man's eternal welfare. 
By ignoring the Supreme God, and by making salva- 
tion to rest solely on personal effort, he substituted 
for the Brahman religion a cold and colorless system 
of philosophy. For that can scarcely be called a 
religious system in which the very core of religion 
— the lively sense of dependence on a supernatural 
being — is lacking. In primitive Buddhism, no provi- 
sion is made for those questionings of mind and 
yearnings of heart that have found expression in the 
religious utterances of almost every people. It is 
shorn of those powerful motives to right conduct that 
spring from the sense of dependence on a personal 
God and Father, — obedience, love, gratitude, rever- 
ential fear, feeling of confidence, and sense of divine 
assistance. 

Hence it is that Buddhist morality in its last anal- 
ysis is a selfish utilitarianism. There is no sense of 
duty, as in the religion of Christ, prompted by rever- 



Buddhism from Christian View-point 313 

ence for the Supreme Law-giver, by love for the 
merciful and kind Father, by personal allegiance to 
the divine Redeemer. Karma, the basis of Buddhist 
morality, is like any other law of nature, the observ- 
ance of which is prompted by prudential considera- 
tions. The Buddhist avoids bad conduct for the same 
reason that he avoids contact with fire, — because of 
the disastrous consequences. 1 While his conscience 
undoubtedly smites him for doing wrong, yet he is a 
stranger to the sense of sin whereby the erring Chris- 
tian reproaches himself for having offended the all- 
good God, and is prompted to grief and the seeking 
of forgiveness. The Buddhist scriptures possess 
nothing like the beautiful Miserere psalm, which has 
brought comfort to so many contrite hearts through- 
out the Christian world. 

As the final motive in Buddhism for shunning 
wickedness is to escape the fancied consequences 
of vile and unhappy rebirths, so the final motive for 
the practice of virtue is to attain either to the eternal 



1 Rev. R. Spence Hardy, for more than twenty-five years a mis- 
sionary in Ceylon, says on this point : " From the absence of a supe- 
rior motive to obedience, Buddhism becomes a system of selfishness. 
The principle set forth in the vicarious endurances of the Bodhisatis 
forgotten. It is a vast scheme of profits and losses, reduced to regu- 
lar order. The acquirement of merit by the Buddhist is as merce- 
nary an act as the toils of the merchant. . . . The disciple of Buddha 
is not taught to abhor crime because of its exceeding sinfulness, but 
because its commission will be to him a personal injury. There is no 
moral pollution in sin; it is merely a calamity to be deprecated, or a 
misfortune to be shunned." Manual of Budhism, p. 507. 



314 Buddhism and Christianity- 

Nirvana, or to some one of the Brahman heavens 
(Swarga), where for a long, but limited period, one 
may enjoy all the pleasures of sense like the gods. 
To the gross superstition which characterizes this 
eschatology, it is needless to call attention. But it is 
important to note that the Nirvana of the arhat, as 
well as the Swarga of the less perfect Buddhist, is the 
object of interested desire. This disposes of a com- 
parison sometimes made between Buddhist and Chris- 
tian eschatology to the prejudice of the latter. Not 
infrequently one meets the assertion that Buddha sur- 
passed Jesus by holding out to struggling humanitv 
an end utterly unselfish. This is a mistake. Not to 
speak of Swarga, with its positive, even sensual de- 
lights, the fact that Nirvana is a negative ideal of 
bliss does not make it the less an object of interested 
desire. Far from being an unselfish end, Nirvana is 
based wholly on the motive of self-love. It thus 
stands on a much lower level than the Christian ideal, 
which, being primarily and essentially union of friend- 
ship with God in heaven, appeals to motives of disin- 
terested as well as interested love. 1 

Another fatal defect of the teaching of Buddha is 
its false pessimism. A strong and healthy mind 
revolts against the morbid view that life is not worth 
living, that every form of conscious existence is an 

1 It is not to be forgotten that self-love is a necessary law of our 
being, and when duly regulated, is a legitimate motive of action. It 
enters into the purest and noblest forms of friendship. It is thus not 
to be despised because it is not the highest motive of human conduct. 



Buddhism from Christian View-point 3 1 5 

evil. Buddhism stands condemned by the voice of 
nature, whose dominant tone is one of hope and joy. 
Nor can it be retorted with fairness that the Christian 
view of life is pessimistic as well. Between the pes- 
simism of Christianity and that of Buddhism, there is 
all the difference in the world. The Christian sees 
the goodness of God's creation marred by sin ; he is 
saddened by the constant struggle between his good 
and evil impulses ; he knows that the present life is 
incomparably inferior to the fulness of life in heaven 
which God has in store for them who love Him ; and 
so, while thankful for the present life with its admix- 
ture of joy and sorrow, he has his heart fixed on his 
abiding home in heaven. He feels that it is good for 
him to have enjoyed this earthly existence, but he 
looks with yearning to the better life beyond. On 
the other hand, Buddhism encourages its votaries to 
look upon the present life as an unmixed evil. It is 
an arraignment of nature itself for possessing that 
which is its' crown of honor, the perfection of rational 
life. Its highest ambition is to destroy that perfec- 
tion by bringing all living beings to the unconscious 
repose of Nirvana. Buddhism is thus guilty of a 
capital crime against nature. 

In consequence of this unnatural pessimism, the 
religion of Buddha does injustice to the individual. 
All legitimate desires must be repressed, for they are 
held to be evil. Innocent recreations are condemned ; 
the cultivation of music is forbidden ; researches in 



316 Buddhism and Christianity 

natural science are discountenanced ; the development 
of the mind is limited to the memorizing of Buddhist 
texts and the study of Buddhist metaphysics, of which 
only a minimum is of any genuine value. The Bud- 
dhist ideal on earth is a state of passive indifference 
to everything. The perfect man is one in whom all 
impulses are benumbed, who is given to a life of 
dreamy inactivity, whose highest act is the trance- 
like contemplation of the negativeness of Nirvana. 
The intended result of Buddhist discipline is the 
extinction of all individuality. 

How different is the teaching of Him who came 
that men might have life and have it more abundantly ! 
Man's perfection consists not in the repression of all 
desires, but in their proper control, so as to subserve 
the harmonious development of his moral, intellec- 
tual, and physical faculties. Christianity is thus in 
harmony with nature, while Buddhism stunts and dis- 
torts the growth of the individual by its unreasonable 
measures of restraint. 

Buddhist pessimism is unjust to the family. Buddha 
inculcated a hearty contempt for the state of marriage. 
He exhorted his fellow-men to shun married life as 
they would avoid a pit of burning coals. The pro- 
creation of life he held in abhorrence, since life was a 
misery. Only to those who devoted themselves to 
the celibate state did he hold out the hope of attain- 
ing at death to Nirvana. In thus branding marriage 
as a state unworthy of man, Buddhism betrays its in- 



Buddhism from Christian View-point 317 

feriority to the religion of Christ, which recommends 
virginity as a higher state of life, but at the same time 
teaches marriage to be a sacred union, a source of 
sanctification, the divinely appointed means of fulfil- 
ling the law, " Increase and multiply." 

In consequence of its pessimistic spirit, Buddhism 
does injustice to society also. It has set the seal of 
approval on the Brahman prejudice against manual 
labor. Since life is not worth living, to labor for the 
comforts and refinements of civilized life is a waste of 
energy. And so industrial occupations are held in 
contempt. The perfect man is not to live by the labor 
of his hands, but on the alms of others. Even the 
practice of medicine is beneath his notice. 

In the religion of Christ, the "carpenter's son," a 
healthier view prevails. The dignity of labor is up- 
held, and every form of industry is encouraged that 
tends to promote man's welfare. 

A comparison of the fruits of Buddhism with those 
of Christianity, brings out in still bolder relief the 
vast superiority of the latter. 

The mistake is often made of attributing to the 
religion of Buddha a more successful propagandism 
than to the religion of Christ. We have already seen 
that the number of Buddhists, far from comprising 
one third of the human race, is in reality much less 
than the number of Christians. 1 But even if Buddhism 
outranked Christianity in number of adherents, the 

1 Vide supra, p. 1 52. 



318 Buddhism and Christianity 

superiority of the latter as a world-religion would 
remain untouched. Christianity has extended its im- 
mense conquests, not by compromising with error 
and superstition, but by winning souls to the exclu- 
sive acceptance of its saving truths. Wherever it has 
spread, it has maintained its individuality. 

It is not so with the religion of Buddha. Begin- 
ning as a religion without divine worship, it lacked 
the consistency and vitality needed to secure it from 
the elements of change. Just as in the Northern 
school, it became the very opposite of what Buddha 
taught to men, so too in spreading to foreign lands 
it accommodated itself to the gross superstitions of 
the peoples it sought to win. In Nepal, it has adopted 
the idolatrous and obscene nature-worship of degen- 
erate Hinduism. In Tibet, while enriching its liturgy 
with adaptations from Nestorianism, it has not scrupled 
to give its sanction to degrading shamanistic observ- 
ances. In like manner, the Buddhism of China, Mon- 
golia, Japan, and Assam is overlaid with superstitions 
peculiar to these respective countries. It would be 
little to the credit of the religion of Christ if it 
spread abroad at such a cost as this. 

Buddhism has but little to show in comparison with 
what Christianity has accomplished for the uplifting 
of humanity. One of its most attractive features, 
which unfortunately has become well-nigh obsolete, 
was its practice of benevolence towards the sick and 
needy. Between Brahmans and Buddhists there was 



Buddhism from Christian View-point 3 1 9 

a commendable rivalry in maintaining dispensaries 
of food and medicine. But this form of charity, 
excellent in its way, was not broad enough to cover 
all kinds of destitution. It did not, like Christian 
charity, extend to the prolonged nursing of unfortu- 
nates stricken with contagious and incurable diseases, 
to the protection of foundlings, to the bringing up of 
orphans, to the rescue of fallen women, to the unflag- 
ging care of the aged and insane. Asylums and 
hospitals, in this sense, are unknown to Buddhism. 
The consecration of religious men and women to the 
lifelong service of afflicted humanity is a purpose 
foreign to dreamy Buddhist monasticism. In the 
works of mercy of the Vincentian Sisters of Charity 
alone, there is more genuine beneficence than in the 
whole range of Buddhist activity. 

The wonderful efficacy displayed by the religion of 
Christ in purifying the morals of pagan Europe, and 
transforming its heterogeneous mass of humanity 
into a united society intolerant of polygamy, con- 
cubinage, prostitution, indiscriminate divorce, infan- 
ticide, slavery, and other social evils, has no parallel 
in Buddhist annals. Wherever Buddhism has pre- 
vailed, it has proved singularly inefficient to lift up 
society to a high standard of morality. It has not 
weaned the people of Tibet and Mongolia from the 
cruel custom of abandoning the aged, nor the Chinese 
from the equally cruel practice of infanticide. It has 
not touched the crying evil of slavery in Tibet, Mon- 



320 Buddhism and Christianity 

golia, China, Burma, Assam, Laos, and Siam. Out- 
side the order of nuns, it has done next to nothing 
to raise woman from her state of degradation in 
oriental lands. Not to speak of polygamy and con- 
cubinage, which are openly practised in all Buddhist 
countries, the temporary marriages contracted with- 
out disgrace between transient foreigners and women 
of Burma, Tibet, and Mongolia, the prevalence of 
polyandry in the two latter countries, the shocking 
frequency of divorce, and the light estimate put on 
chastity in Ceylon, Burma, Laos, Mongolia, and Tibet, 
bear witness to the utter helplessness of Buddhism to 
cope with the moral plagues of degenerate humanity. 
The reasons for this impotence are not far to seek. 
In the first place, as has been pointed out above, 
Buddhism is lacking in the strong, inspiriting motives 
to right conduct that are the glorious possession of 
the religion of Jesus Christ. Another reason is that 
it has concentrated its energy on the small circle of 
its monks and nuns, while the laity, aside from the 
routine of periodical preaching, have been left to 
shift for themselves. Lastly, Buddhism has failed 
to rise to the recognition of monogamy as the only 
proper basis for society. Like all religions of anti- 
quity, it has tolerated in lay society the customs of 
polygamy and easy divorce. While holding up cel- 
ibacy as the only proper state for man, and while 
insisting on its strict observance by the members of 
his order, Buddha looked with equal indifference on 



Buddhism from Christian View-point 321 

the monogamous and polygamous practices sanc- 
tioned by Hindu law. The assertion now and then 
made that Buddha abolished polygamy, is as untrue 
as the assertion that he abolished caste. There is not 
a single text in the whole range of Buddhist scrip- 
tures that inveighs against the abuses of polygamy 
and indiscriminate repudiation. On the contrary, 
the Buddha-legend, while proclaiming the sinlessness 
of its hero, points with complacency to the period 
in his early manhood when he lived in oriental luxury 
surrounded by his many hundred wives. 1 The early 
Buddhist scriptures refer to the extensive seraglio of 
their pet convert, Bimbisara, without so much as 
hinting any derogation on his part from the standard 
of conduct befitting a royal Buddhist layman. 2 The 
evidence of later generations indicates no progress 
towards a higher view of marriage. The eighth 
Column Edict of Delhi and the fragmentary Edict 
of the Queen go to show that the great Asoka was 
a polygamist. 3 The bas-reliefs of the Sanchi and 
Amravati topes depict Buddhist nobles diverting 
themselves with their numerous concubines. 4 It was 
owing to the influence of his two Buddhist wives 



'& 



1 Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 75. 

2 Cf. S. B. E. XIII. p. 191 ; also 5. B. E. XVII. p. 180, where 
his wives are said to be five hundred. 

3 Cf. Senart, Les Inscriptions de Piyadasi, II. pp. 92-93, 98, 103, 
271. 

4 Cf. Fergusson, Tree and Serpent Worship, plates xxiv., Ixii., 
lxix., lxxii., lxxiii., lxxxiv., and xci. 

21 



322 Buddhism and Christianity 

that the king of Tibet made overtures to establish 
Buddhism in his realm. The official head of South- 
ern Buddhism at the present day, the king of Siam, 
exercises without scruple his privilege of maintaining 
a harem. 1 

In the face of this appalling arraignment, it is a 
pity that, at least out of respect for its noble but 
misguided founder, the extenuating plea could not 
be entered that the Buddhist order of monks is doing 
its utmost to stem the evils it cannot cure. But even 
this plea cannot honestly be made. The consentient 
testimony of witnesses above the suspicion of preju- 
dice establishes the lamentable fact that Buddhist 
monks are everywhere strikingly deficient in that 
moral earnestness and exemplary conduct that dis- 
tinguished the early followers of Buddha. Buddhism 
is all but dead. In its huge organism the faint pulsa- 
tions of declining life are still discernible, but its 
power of activity is gone never to be restored. A 

1 One of his predecessors, Chowfa Monkut, who was a Buddhist 
monk till he ascended the throne in 1S51, was able within the short 
period of eleven years to boast that he was the sire of sixty- 
seven children. Cf. Anna H. Leonowens, The English Governess at 
the Siamese Court, Boston, 1870, p. 59. Besides this very interesting 
work, the following are recommended as illustrating the state of 
morality in Buddhist lands, fitienne Aymonier, Voyage dans le Laos, 
2 vols., Paris, 1895-97. Robert Knox, Historical Relation of the 
Island of Ceylon (in the History of Ceylon, London, 1817). Robert 
Percival, An Account of the Island of Ceylon, London, 1805. M. 
Symes, An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom of Ava in the Year 
I79S- Edinburgh, 1827. W. W. Rockhill, The Land of the Lamas 
New York, 1891. 



Buddhism from Christian View-point 323 

human and imperfect work, it is destined to go the 
way of all things human. The spread of European 
civilization over the benighted East will cause its 
inevitable extinction. 

Such being the system that glories in the name of 
Buddha, we need not share the empty fears of a few 
timid souls who look with alarm on the recent futile 
attempts to secure a following for Buddhism in Chris- 
tian lands. So long as the human mind retains its 
power of discriminating judgment, Christianity has 
nothing to fear from Buddhism. It will benefit, not 
suffer, by the comparison. To abandon the wisdom 
of Christ for the vagaries of Buddha would be as 
unreasonable as to prefer husks to bread, to turn 
from the pure stream of the fountain to the fetid 
water of the stagnant pool, to grope in the night by 
the flame of the candle rather than to walk securely 
in the full light of day. Between the claims of Jesus 
and those of Buddha it is easy to make the proper 
choice. To Him who is in truth the Light of the 
world every man of sense will turn, repeating the 
words of the great apostle, " Lord, to whom shall we 
go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." 



Bibliography 



I. TEXTS (translations) 

A — Doctrinal, 
i. Pali. 

T. W. Rhys Davids and H. Oldenberg, Vinaya Texts : 
Part i., Patimokkha, Mahavagga, i-iv. — Sacred Books of the 
the East, XIII. Oxford, 1881. Part ii. Mahavagga, v-x. 
Chullavagga, i-iii. — S. B. E. XVII. Part iii. Chullavagga, 
iv-xii. — S. B. E. XX. 

T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Suttas. — S. B. E. XI. 

T. W. Rhys Davids, Digha-Nikaya ; Dialogues of the 
Buddha. London, 1899. 

T. W. Rhys Davids, The Questions of King Milinda. 
— S. B. E. XXXV., XXXVI. 

V. Fausboll, The Sutta-Nipata. — S. B. E. X. Part ii. 

Leon Feer, Etudes bouddhiques ; le sutra d'Upali, 
traduit du Pali. — Journal Asiatique, VIII. ser. ix. pp. 309 
ff., and xi. pp. 1 1 3 ff. 

F. Max Muller, The Dhammapada. — S. B. E.X. Part i. 

K. E. Neumann, Buddhistische Anthologie. Berlin, 
1892. 

K. E. Neumann, Theragatha und Therigatha. Berlin, 
1899. 

H. C. Warren, Buddhism in Translations. Cambridge, 
1896. 



326 Bibliography 

2. Sanskrit. 

Eugene Burnouf, Introduction a l'histoire du boud- 
dhisme indien. Vol. I. Paris, 1844. 

Eugene Burnouf, Lotus de la bonne loi. Paris, 1852. 

H. Kern, The Saddharma-Pundarika. — S. B. E. XXI. 

S. Kuroda, Outlines of the Mahayana. Tokyo, 1893. 

F. Max Muller, The Sukhavativyuha. — S. B. E. XLIX. 
Part ii. 

J. Takakusu, The Amitayur-Dhyana-Sutra. — S. B. E. 
XLIX. Part ii. 

3. Tibetan, Chinese, and Burmese. 

Leon Feer, Fragments extraits du Kandjour. — Annates 
du Musee Guimet. Vol. V. 

W. W. Rockhill, Udamavarga, being the Northern Bud- 
dhist Version of Dhammapada. London, 1883. 

Samuel Beal, Texts from the Buddhist Canon, Commonly 
Known as the Dhammapada ; Translated from the Chinese. 
London, 1878. 

Samuel Beal, A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures. London, 
1871. 

MM. Ymaizoumi et Yamata, O-mi-to-king. — Annales du 
Musee Guimet. Vol. II. 

T. Rogers, Buddhaghosha's Parables ; Translated from 
the Burmese ; with an Introduction by Max Muller. Lon- 
don, 1870. 

B — Legendary and Historical. 
1. Pali. 

C. Alwyss, A History of the Island of Lanka from the 
Earliest Period to the Present Time. Visits of Buddhas in 
the Island, Extracted from the Pujavalya and Sarvajnaguna- 



Bibliography 327 

lankaraya, with a Literal Translation into English. Colombo, 
1S76. 

R. Chalmers, W. H. Rouse, H. T. Francis, and R. A. 
Neil, The Jatakas. 3 vols. (Edited by E. B. Cowell.) 
Cambridge, 1895-97. 

T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhist Birth-stories, or Jataka 
Tales. I. London, 1880. 

T. W. Rhys Davids, Mahaparinibbana Sutta, the Book 
of the Great Decease. — S. B. E. XL 

H. Oldenberg, Dipavamsa. London, 1879. 

Coomara Swamy, A History of the Tooth-Relic of Cey- 
lon. London, 1874. 

J. H. Thiessen, Die Legende von Kisa Gotami. Kiel, 1880. 

George Turnour, An Examination of the Pali Buddhis- 
tical Annals. — Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 
VII. pp. 789 ff. 

George Turnour, The Mahavvanso in Roman Characters, 
with the Translation Subjoined. Vol. I. Ceylon, 1837. 

L. C. Wijessinha, The Mahavansa ; Translated from the 
Original Pali into English. Colombo, 1889. 

H. C. Warren, Selections from the Nidana Katha. In 
Buddhism in Translations. ( Vide supra). 

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E, B. Cowell, The Buddha-Charita. — S. B. E. XLIX. 

Leon Feer, Avadana-Cataka, cent legendes bouddhiques. 
— Annales du Musee Guimet. Vol. XVIII. 

P. E. Foucaux, Lalita Vistara. — Annales du Musee 
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S. Lefmann, Lalita Vistara, aus dem Original des San- 
skrit zuerst ins Deutsche ubersetzt. Berlin, 1874. 

J. S. Speyer, The Gatakamala, or Garland of Birth- 
stories. London, 1895. 



328 Bibliography 

3. Tibetan, Chinese, and Burmese. 

P. E. Foucaux, Histoire du bouddha Sakya-mouni. Paris, 
i860. 

F. A. von Schiefxer, Tibetan Tales from Indian Sources ; 
Translated by W. R. Ralston, London, 1882. 

F. A. von Schiefxer, Eine tibetische Lebensbeschreibung 
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F. A. von Schiefner, Taranathas Geschichte des Bud- 
dhismus in Indien. Petersburg, 1869. 

Samuel Beal, The Romantic Legend of Sakya Buddha 
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Samuel Beal, Fo-sho-hing-tsan-king (Buddha Charita). 
— S. B. E. XIX. 

Mgr. P. Bigandet, The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the 
Buddha of the Burmese. 2 vols. London, 1880. 



II. BIOGRAPHIES OF BUDDHA BASED ON 
LEGENDARY TEXTS 

H. Alabaster, The Wheel of the Law. Buddhism Illus- 
trated from Siamese Sources. London, 1871. Part ii. 

Edwin Arnold, The Light of Asia. London, 1879. 

R. S. Hardy, A Manual of Budhism in its Modern 
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W. W. Rockhill, The Life of the Buddha. London, 1884. 

Mary Sumner, Histoire du bouddha Sakya-mouni depuis 
sa naissance jusqu'a sa mort. Paris, 1874. 

III. GENERAL TREATISES ON BUDDHISM 

H. Alabaster, The Wheel of the Law. ( Vide supra) . 
A. Barth, The Religions of India ; Translated by J. 
Wood. London, 1891. 



Bibliography 329 

Abbe de Brogue, Problemes et conclusions de l'histoire 
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Eugene Burnouf, Introduction a l'histoire du bouddhisme 
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Paul Carus, The Dharma, or the Religion of Enlighten- 
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Paul Carus, The Gospel of Buddha According to Old 
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James Freeman Clarke, Ten Great Religions and a 
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Bish. R. S. Copleston, Buddhism, Primitive and Present, 
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Joseph Dahlmann, S. J., Buddha ; ein Culturbild des 
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T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, being a Sketch of the 
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T. VV. Rhys Davids, Lectures on the Origin and Growth 
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M. W. Dunker, Der Brahmanismus und der Buddhismus. 
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R. S. Hardy, A Manual of Budhism. ( Vide supra) . 

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33° Bibliography 

Edward W. Hopkins, The Religions of India. Boston, 
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J. H. C. Kern, Der Buddhismus und seine Geschichte in 
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R. A. Armstrong, Buddhism and Christianity. — Theol. 
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J. H. Barrows, Buddhism Contrasted with Christianity. 
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J. H. Barrows, The Christian Conquest of Asia. New 
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T. S. Berry, Christianity and Buddhism : a Comparison 
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J. T. Bixby, Buddhism in the New Testament. — Arena, 
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W. M. Bryant, Buddhism and Christianity. — Andover 
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Ernst von Bunsen, The Angel-Messiah of Buddhists, 
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L. M. Child, Resemblances between the Buddhist and 
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T. W. Rhys Davids, Buddhism and Christianity. In 
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Marcus Dods, Mohammed, Buddha, and Christ. Four 
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Johan N. Ehrlich, Der Buddhismus und das Christen- 
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Frank F. Ellinwood, Oriental Religions and Christianity. 
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W. P. Englert, Christus und Buddha in ihrem himm- 
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Robert Falke, Buddha, Mohammed, und Christus : ein 
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J. A. Faulkner, Buddhism, Brahmanism, and Christianity. 
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George T. Flanders, Christ or Buddha? A Review of 
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Maurice Fluegel, The Zend Avesta and Eastern Re- 
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J. Gmeiner, Buddhism ; Light of Asia and Light of the 
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Edward Grimm, Die Lehre iiber Buddha und Dogma 
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VI. Berlin, 1877. 

Charles Hardwick, Christ and Other Masters, an histori- 
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ancient world. 2 vols. London, 1874. 

Edmund Hardy, Der Buddhismus. Ch. vii. (vide supra)- 

R. Spencer Hardy, Christianity and Buddhism Com- 
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Adolf Hilgenfeld, Der Essaismus und Jesus. — Zeit- 
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E. Hungerford, Buddhism and Christianity. — New 
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S. H. Kellogg, The Light of Asia and the Light of the 
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S. H. Kellogg, Buddhism and Christianity. — Presb. Rev. 
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S. H. Kellogg, The Legend of Buddha and the Life of 
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Karl Klingemann, Buddhismus, Pessimismus, und mod- 
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A. Kuenen, National Religions and Universal Religions. 
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H. Lacaze, Le bouddhisme et le christianisme. — Rev. 
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342 Bibliography 

S. Levi, Le bouddhisme et les Grecs. — Revue de l'His- 
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Canon H. P. Liddon, Essays and Addresses. London, 
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Bish. J. B. Lightfoot, St. Paul's Epistles to the Colos- 
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Arthur Lillie, Buddhism in Christendom, or Jesus the 
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Arthur Lillie, The Influence of Buddhism on Primi- 
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G. H. Palmer, Buddhism and Christianity. — Outlook, 
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R. Parsons, Buddhism and Christianity. — Amer. Cath. 
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James M. Peebles, Buddhism and Christianity Face to 
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Abel Remusat, Melanges asiatiques. Paris, 1825, vol. I. 
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H. R. Reynolds, Buddhism, a Comparison and a Con- 
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344 Bibliography 

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Index 



Alasadda (in Mahavansa) not Alex- 
andria of Egypt, 2S4. 
Amita, a Chinese Buddhist deity, 

• '47- . 

Amitabha, 136, 146, 149. 

Ananda, Buddha's favorite disciple, 

78 ff., 267. 
Ancestor-worship, Brahman, 6, 26. 
Arhat, Buddhist saint, 124. 
Asceticism, Brahman, 21-22, 27-30 ; 

Buddhist, no, 117. 
Asita, the Buddhist Simeon, 71, 203. 
Asita-story possibly of Christian origin, 

302. 
Asoka, 138 ff.; edicts of, 139, 140. 

(See Edict). 
Asvaghosa, 162, 163. 

Baptism of Jesus without a Buddhist 

parallel, 247. 
Bardesanes, a witness to early spread 

of Christianity to Bactria, 294. 
Bartholomew's labors in India, 295- 

296. 
Beatitudes, Christian independent of 

Buddhist, 263. 
Beneficence, Buddhist and Christian 

compared, in, 319. 
Bhagavat, epithet of Buddha, 67. 
Bharhut stupa, date and sculptures, 

214. 
Bhikkhuni, Buddhist nun, 125. 
Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, m. 
Bimbisara not the prototype of Herod, 

244. 
Birth of Christ and that of Buddha 

compared, 202. 



Bodhisattva, 136. 

Bodhi-tree, 73, 134, 235,248, 261. 

Book of the Great Decease, 76, 84, 

161. 
Buddha, not a social reformer, 113- 

114 ; not an atheist, 130. 
Buddha Charita, 155 ; date of, 163. 
Buddhavansa, date of, 169. 
Buddhism tolerant towards Brahman 

worship, 131 ; powerless to reform 

society, 319-320: degeneracy of 

modern, 322. 
Buddhist propagandism inferior to 

Christian, 317-318. 
Bunsen, false statements of, 177, 178, 

204, 216, 236, 237, 242, 245, 247, 

254. 

Caste-system, Brahman, 16-18; not 

abolished by Buddha, 113. 
Catholicism not indebted to Lamaism, 

220-231. 
Chastity exacted of Brahman student, 

22 ; of Buddhist monk, 105, 108. 
Chinese Buddhism, 145 ff. 
Chinese pilgrims, 145-146. 
Christmas not the birthday of Buddha, 

242-243. 
Chunda, 76-79, 253. 
Confession of sins, Brahman, 8, 14 ; 

Buddhist, 121-122. 
Cosmas, a witness to the existence in 

India of Christian churches in the 

sixth century, 296. 
Council of Kashmir, 144; of Patna, 

141, 157-158; of Rajagriha, 137; 

of Vaisali, 138. 



346 



Index 



Dalai-Lama, 149. 

Devadatta, the Buddhist Judas, 75, 

267. 
Devanampiya, epithet of Asoka, 140. 
Dhammapada, 104, 107. 
Dhyani-Buddha, 149. 
Dipavansa, date of, 155. 

Earthquake at Buddha's death, 82. 
Edict, Bhabra, 158; second Girnar, 

271 ; fifth Girnar, 276; thirteenth 

Girnar, 279. 
Edicts of Asoka, 139-140. 
Essenes not Buddhists, 193-195. 
Ethics, Brahman, 39 ff. ; Buddhist, 

i°3 ff -. 3 l 3- 

Fa Hien, Chinese pilgrim, 146, 151. 
Fast of Jesus compared with that of 

Buddha, 204. 
Fig-tree in Gospel not an echo of the 

the Buddha-legend, 24S-249. 
Food-restrictions, Brahman, 34-35 : 

Buddhist, 11 7-1 18. 
Fo-peii-hing-king, 162. 
Fo-pen-hing-tsan-king, 168. 
Fo-pen-hing-tsih-king, 167. 
Forgiveness of injuries, in Brahman- 

•ism, 40-41 ; in Buddhism, 106. 
Fousa Kwanyin, a Chinese Buddhist 

deity, 147. 

Genealogy of Christ not a Buddhist 
suggestion. 216. 

Gift of tongues, late date of Buddhist 
story, 222. 

Gondophares, Tndo-Bactrian king, con- 
temporary with St. Thomas, 291- 

2 93- 

Gospels beyond possibility of Bud- 
dhist influence, 270-273. 
Guru, Brahman teacher, 19. 

Heaven of Brahmanism a feature of 

popular Buddhism, 102. 
Hell, Brahman, II, 12; Buddhist, 

76, 92. 



Herod-story unlike that of Bimbisara, 

244. 
Hinayana, the Little Vehicle, 137. 
Hiouen Thsang, Chinese pilgrim, 146, 

151. 

Initiation into Brahmanism, 19 ; 

into Buddhist order, 115-116. 
I-Tsing, Chinese pilgrim, 146. 

Jamalgiri sculptures evidence of 
early Christian influence in the Pan- 
jab, 29S-299. 

Jesus not an Essene, 192. 

John the Baptist not an Essene, 193. 

Joyous element in pantheistic Brah- 
manism, 56; in Buddhism, 101. 

Kanishka (Kanerkes), 143, 163, 212, 

2I 3- 
Karma, Brahman notion, 13; Bud- 
dhist, 92 ; belief in karma wrongly 
ascribed to the apostles, 250-251 ; 
its superstitious character, 311. 

Lalita Vistara, 155, 216, 218; date 
of, 163-166. 

Lamaism, 149; its points of resem- 
blance with Catholicism, 150, 229- 
230 ; its alleged influence on Cath- 
olicism a fable, 230-231. 

Last Supper of Jesus without a Bud- 
dhist parallel, 253. 

Lillie, false statements of, 183, 1S4, 
185, 186, 1S8, 189, 223, 228, 238, 
241, 242, 247, 253. 

Lotus of the True Law, 155, 225, 
250 ; date of, 227. 

Lumbini, birthplace of Buddha, 66. 

Mahaparinibbana Si/tta, see Book of 

the Great Decease. 
Maliavansa, 141, 142, 155, 213, 277, 

284 ; date of, 141. 
Mahayana, the Great Vehicle, 136, 

*37, 213- 
Mahinda-story, dubious character of, 

142. 



Index 



347 



Maitreya (Metteyya), 135, 23;, 236. 
Malabar Christians, 296-297. 
Manual labor not honored in Brahman- 
ism, 37 ; nor in Buddhism, III, 317. 
Mara, lord of death and pleasure, 72- 

74, 204-207. 
Marriage, Brahman view, 22 ff. ; Bud- 
dhist view, 109. 
Maya, the unreal world of sense, 51. 
Maya, mother of Buddha, 69 ; not a 

virgin, 237-239. 
Meditation, Brahman, 30 ; Buddhist, 

123-124. 
Metteyya, devotion to, 135. 
Milinda Panha, date of, 155. 
Miracles of Christ untouched by the 
alleged marvels of Buddha, 305-309. 
Mito, a Chinese Buddhist deity, 147. 
Monotheistic tendency of Vedic belief, 

5. 45- 
Multiplication of food, late origin of 
Buddhist story, 222. 

Nestorianism in the far East, 150, 
299-300. 

Nidana Katha, date of, 168. 

Nirvana, meaning of, 94-100; a 
heaven of delights in later Buddhism, 
136 ; a selfish ideal, 314. 

Noviciate, Buddhist, 114. 

Number of Buddhists greatly exagger- 
ated, 152. 

Occupations reprobated by Brah- 
mans, 37-38 ; by Buddhists, 118. 

Panxsnus, early Christian mission- 
ary to India, 294-296. 

Paravana, 122. 

Patimokkha, Buddhist confession- 
formula, 121, 156. 

Penances, Brahman, 14, 30, 36. 

Pessimism, Brahman, 54 ; Buddhist, 
S8-S9; criticism of Buddhist notion, 
3'5- 

Pilgrimages, Buddhist, 133. 

Pitris, worship of, 6, 26. 

Piyadasi, epithet of Asoka, 140. 



Ploughing-match, story of, not the 
source of the story of the lost child, 
Jesus, 246. 

Polygamy allowed in Brahmanism, 
23 ; in Buddhist lay society, 321. 

Prayer-wheels, Tibetan, 149. 

Pre-existence of Christ contrasted with 
the alleged pre-existence of Buddha, 
199. 

Presentation of Jesus in the temple 
not a fable derived from Buddhism, 
216-218; in strict accord with Jew- 
ish custom, 217-21S. 

Prodigal son, Gospel story not of 
Buddhist origin, 225-227. 

Questions of King Milinda, date of, 

Rebirth, popular Brahman view, 13; 
pantheistic Brahman view, 52 ; 
Buddhist view, 92. 

Relics of Buddha, veneration of, 133. 

Resurrection not a Buddhist notion, 
255. 

Retribution after death, Vedic and 
Brahman belief, 6, n-12; Bud- 
dhist, 76, 92, 102. 

Romantic Legend of Sakya-Buddha, 
date of Chinese version, 167. 

Sacrifice, its importance in popular 

Brahmanism, 8. 
Saddharma-pundarika, 155 ; date of, 

227. 
Saint Thomas' labors in Parthia and 

India, 290-293. 
Sakya-muni, epithet of Buddha, 66. 
Sakya-sinha, epithet of Buddha, 67. 
Sanchi-sculptures not prechristian, 214. 
Savitri-prayer, ic, 20, 21. 
School-scene in the Gospel of the In- 
fancy probably not Buddhist origin, 

21S-221. 
Separation of Northern from Southern 

Buddhism, 213. 
Siddhattha, epithet of Buddha, 66. 



348 



Index 



Simeon and Asita compared, 203 ; 
greater antiquity of Gospel story, 
302. 

Sin, Buddhist view deficient, 313. 

Si-ngan-fu, ancient Christian monu- 
ment of, 299. 

Soul, Buddhist view of, 97. 

Sraddha, Brahman feast for the dead, 
26. 

Star in the East without a Buddhist 
parallel, 240-241. 

Stupa, Buddhist relic-mound, 83. 

Subhadda, Buddha's last convert, Si. 

Suddhodana, father of Buddha, 66. 

Sugata, epithet of Buddha, 67. 

Suicide condemned by Buddhism, 105. 

Sukhavati, paradise of Northern 
Buddhism, 136, 146. 

Sung Vun, Chinese pilgrim, 146. 

Swastika a pre-Buddhist symbol, 233. 

Tathagata, epithet of Buddha, 67; 
wrongly identified with Jewish 
" habba," 245. 

Temptation of Jesus compared with 
that of Buddha, 205-209. 

Therapeuts not Buddhists, 194. 

Thoughts, their importance in ethics 
of Brahmanism, 40-41 ; of Bud- 
dhism, 104-105. 

Tibetan Buddhism, 148. 

Ti-pitaka, 155 ; age of, exaggerated, 
156-161. 

Total abstinence, Brahman, 36 ; Bud- 
dhist, 105. 

Transfiguration of Jesus imperfectly 
paralleled in Buddhism, 209. 



Triumphal entry into Jerusalem with- 
out a Buddhist parallel, 252. 

Upanishads, 47. 

Upasaka, Buddhist layman, 126. 

Vassa, rainy-season, period of Bud- 
dhist retreat, 123. 

Veda, threefold, 9. 

Vedas, oral teaching of, 19; prolonged 
study of, 21 ; recited daily by Brah- 
man, 26. 

Vehicle, Great, 136, 137, 213 ; Little, 
'37- 

Vihara, Buddhist monastery, 119. 

Vows of Brahman ascetic, 31 ; of 
Brahman student, 22 ; of Buddhist 
monk, 105, 115. 

Woman, Brahman estimate of, 24; 

Buddhist, r2i. 
Writing in India, 219-220. 

Yama, 6, 136. 

Yasas not the prototype of Nicodemus, 
251-252. 

Yasodhara, the principal wife of Bud- 
dha, 71. 

Yavana, true meaning, 142-143. 

Yavanas, Bactrian and Parthian 
Greeks, 276-278. 

Yona-loka, term for Bactria, 277-27S. 

Yoga, Brahman contemplation, 30. 

Zarmanochegas not a Buddhist, 
286, 287. 



THESES 



QUAS 



AD DOCTORATUM 



IN 



SACRA THEOLOGIA 
Apud Universitatem Catholicam America 

CONSEQUENDUM 

PUBLICE PROPUGNABIT 
CAROLUS FRANCISCUS AIKEN, S. T. L. 

DIEBUS XXVII. ET XXVIII. NOVEMBRIS. A.D. MDCCCC. 



THESES 
i. 

" Nulla quidem theologum inter et physicum vera dissensio inter- 
cesserit, duna suis uterque finibus se contineat." l 

II. 
Minime efficacia sunt argumenta contra spiritualem animae naturam 
peti solita ex intimo eo nexu cerebrum inter et intellectum vigente 
quo fit ut laeso cerebro laedatur et facultas intellectual s. 

III. 
Religionem esse subjectionem Deo voluntariam in cognitione 
dependentiae nostrae fundatam, ex eis quae in religionis conceptu 
continentur parumper attendenti patebit; ideoque non solum 
voluntatis, sed etiam intellectus et cordis actus implicare. 

IV. 
A vero deficiunt definitiones illae omnes quibus Kant, Schleier- 
macher, Hegel, Fichte et Mill religionis essentiam exprimi autu- 
marunt. 

V. 
Ruddhismus primitivus, cum hominem ex ente supernaturali pendere 
deneget, non est proprie dicta religio. 

VI. 
Euhemerismus, systema scilicet illud quod mythologiam ex historia 
derivari autumat, impar est religionis origini funditus explicandae. 

VII. 
Ortum duxisse religionem ab idea infiniti utpote a Max Muller 
concepti minime admittendum. 

VIII. 
The attempt of Herbert Spencer to explain all forms of religion 
as developments of a mistaken ancestor-worship is scientifically un- 
sound. 

IX. 
It is a mistake to look upon fetishism as a distinct and elementary 
form of religion. 

1 Leo XIII, Prov. Deus. 



X. 

Religion is the natural and legitimate outcome of the use of 
reason. 

XI. 
The universality of religion can not reasonably be called in doubt. 

XII. 

It is incorrect to hold with Tylor, Brinton, and other anthropolo- 
gists that the moral standard recognized by uncivilized peoples is 
devoid of all religious sanction. 

XIII. 
Penance for sin can be shown to have been an important element 
in the religious life of not a few heathen peoples. 

XIV. 
Non-revealed religions, while upholding the recognized moral 
standard, have often been a hindrance rather than a help to moral 
advancement. 

XV. 
Primitive Buddhism can not fairly be adduced as an example of 
high morality maintained without religious sanction. 

XVI. 
Belief in the efficacy of prayer is not at variance with the estab- 
lished truths of modern science. 

XVII. 
Resemblances in different religions do not always imply identity 
of origin. 

XVIII. 
Positive revelation, far from being impossible, commends itself to 
the unprejudiced mind as antecedently probable. 

XIX. 

Mysteria religionis revelatae nullum praebent obstaculum validum 
quin pro vera accipiatur. 

XX. 

Miracula non sunt deneganda quasi naturae legibusque naturali- 
bus adversantia, ideoque impossibilia. 



XXI. 
The notion that miracles are not instances of the special interven- 
tion of God in nature, but rather extraordinary effects due to the 
operation of certain occult forces of nature divinely determined to 
this end from the very beginning of creation, does not merit ap- 
proval. 

XXII. 
The evidential value of miracles is not made void by the possi- 
bility of demoniacal wonders. 

XXIII. 
Revelationem primis parentibus factam fuisse e pluribus fontibus 
eruitur. 

XXIV. 
There is a fair degree of probability in the view that the legends 
of widely distant peoples concerning a former golden age are the 
inherited reminiscences of the primitive Paradise. 

XXV. 

The tendency to monotheism existing in almost all religions is 
probably a relic of primitive revelation. 

XXVI. 
The world-wide belief in the immortality of the soul may be safely 
taken as a relic of primitive tradition. 

XXVII. 

The existence of flood-legends in the folk-lore of many peoples is 
a strong testimony to the historical character of the Bible account 
of the Deluge. 

XXVIII. 

The assertion that Judaism derived its eschatology from Zoroas- 
trianism lacks solid foundation. 

XXIX. 

The positive, internal criteria of revelation, when rightly applied to 
Christianity, create a strong presumption in favor of its divine 
origin. 

XXX. 

The Diatessaron of Tatian bears reliable testimony to the authen- 
ticity of the four Gospels. 



XXXI. 
The apostolic origin of the Gospels of Matthew and of Mark is 
made good by the testimony of Papias. 

XXXII. 
From internal evidence it can be made plain that the author of 
the fourth Gospel was a Palestinian Jew, of the circle of Christ's 
intimate disciples. 

XXXIII. 
A critical examination of John xix, 35, and xxt, 24, is sufficient f 
to show that the author of the fourth Gospel was John, the son of 
Zebedee. 

XXXIV. 
The apostolic origin of the Gospels precludes the possibility of 
their being contaminated with mythical elements drawn from Buddh- 
ism. 

XXXV. 

The theory that the Gospel stories of Christ's miraculous concep- 
tion and birth are of Buddhist origin is absolutely untenable. 

XXXVI. 
No serious argument can be drawn from the Buddha-legend against 
the Gospel teaching of the virgin-motherhood of Mary. 

XXVII. 
The story of the temptation of Christ has no historical connection 
with the somewhat similar story related of Buddha. 

XXXVIII. 
The Gospel story of the man born blind is wrongly taken to imply 
belief in the Buddhist doctrine of karma. 

XXXIX. 

The attempt to prove that Jesus was an Essene must be set down 
as utterly futile. 

XL. 

Qui miraculis a Christo patratis thaumaturgiam Buddhae ascrip- 
tam solent opponere operam casse navant. 



XLI. 

The miraculous cures wrought by Christ do not admit of the ex- 
planation that they are relative miracles only, i. e., effects produced 
naturally through a knowledge of nature's laws not possessed by 
His« contemporaries but within the grasp of later generations en- 
lightened by scientific progress. 

XLII. 
Christ US Dominus natus est ex Maria virgine. 

XLIIT. 

Ex sui ipsius testimonio Christum verum esse Deum irrvictissime 
comprobatur. 

XLIV. 

The reality of Christ's resurrection is conclusively established by 
the concurrent testimony of the four Gospels. 

XLV. 
Even without the aid of the Gospel narrative, the Epistles of St. 
Paul to the Romans, to the Corinthians, and to the Galatians, which 
are -admitted even by rationalists to be genuine, are sufficient to 
prove that our Lord rose from the dead. 

XLVI. 
The religion of Buddha is incomparably inferior to the religion of 
Jesus Christ. 

XLVII. 
It is a mistake to hold that Buddhism has propagated itself with 
greater success than Christianity. 

XLVIII. 
Ad essentiam ecclesiaea Christo fundatae pertinet auctoritas mag- 
isterii. 

XLIX. 
Christus ecclesiam suam ita instituit ut usque ad finem mundi 
officio suo fungatur ab omni errore immunis. 

L. 

"Issensus sacrorum dogmatum perpetuo est retinendus quern 
semel declaravit sancta Mater Ecclesia, nee unquam ab eo sensu, 
altioris intelligentiae specie et nomine, recedendum." : 

1 Con. Vatic. Const. Dei Filius, cap. 4. 



I.I. 

Discrimen inter clericos et laicos est juris divini. 

Lit. 
Sacerdotium vere et proprie dictum Christus in ecclesia sua in- 
stitult. 

I.III. 
Verbis Matthaei XVI, iS, probatur Christum Petro apostolo imme- 
diate contulisse primatum jurisdictionis. 

LIV. 

Roman um Pontificem primatum in ecclesia primis saeculis exer- 
cuisse probatur. 

LV. 

Summus Pontifex vi potestatis propriae et ordinariae a qualibet 
lege ecclesiastica dispensare potest. 

LVI. 
Licet in ecclesia episcopatus a Christo Domino institutus fuerit, 
eorum tamen jurisdictio a Romano Pontifice immediate procedit. 

LVI I. 
It is a gross error to maintain that the Christian observance of 
Sunday had its source in the cult of Mithra. 

LVIII. 
The monastic discipline of Christianity, while strikingly similar to 
that of Buddhism, is of independent origin. 

LIX. 

The attempt to trace certain features of Catholicism to Lamaism 
is a perversion of historic truth. 

LX. 

The connection alleged by some between the Essenes and the 
Buddhists is a pure fiction. 

LXI. 
Buddhism, far from being an original creation, is in great part a 
derivation from Brahminism. 

LXII. 
The edicts of Asoka afford no conclusive evidence of the spread 
of Buddhism in his day as far as the Greek-speaking world. 



LX1II. 
It is very probable that the separation of the Northern from the 
Southern Buddhists was occasioned by the conquest of Northern 
India by Kanishka in 78 A. D. 

LXIV. 
There is strong historical evidence in support of the tradition that 
the Apostle Thomas evangelized Parthia, Bactria and Northwest 
India. 

LXV. 
The Jamalgiri sculptures point unmistakably to the presence of 
Christian influences in the Panjab as early as the fifth century. 

LXVI. 
The Nestorian monument of Si-ngan-fu affords incontestable proof 
of the presence of Christianity in China in the first half of the 
seventh century. 

LXVII. 
Cultus hyperduliae beatae Mariae virgini exhibitus rectae rationi 
principiisque revelatis omnino convenit. 

LXVIII. 
Veneratio, quae imagini Christi crucifixi juxta praxim ecclesiae 
solet exhiberi, procul dubio legitima est censenda. 

LXIX. 
The Catholic use of the sign of the cross is a characteristic feature 
of primitive Christianity. 

LXX. 
The observance of the Lord's day dates from apostolic times. 

LXXI. 
Christus apostolis eorumque successoribus potestatem contulit 
peccata remittendi. 

LXXII. 
Ad sacramentum poenitentiae valide ministrandum requiritur po- 
testas non solum ordinis sed etiam jurisdictionis. 



LXXIII. 

Contritio motivo caritatis perfectae concepta peccatorem Deo 
reconciliat ante absolutionem. 

LXXIV. 

Contrahentes sunt ministri sacramenti matrimonii. 

LXXV. 

Jus sodalitia formandi quibus conditiones laboris aequiores ob- 
tineantur, opificibus negari non potest. 



Vidit Sacra Faatltus, 
Caroi.us P. Grannan, S. T. D., p. t. Decanus. 
Joannes T. Creagh, J. C. D., p. t. a Secretis. 

Vidit Rector [fuiversitatis, 

THOMAS J. CON AT Y, S. T. D. 
Damns Pontificalis Praesul. 



j^eugi HUE jBea 

The Dhamma of Gotama 
the Buddha 



AND THE 



Gospel of Jesus the Christ 

A Critical Inquiry into the Alleged Relations of 
Buddhism with Primitive Christianity 

DISSERTATION FOR THE DOCTORATE IN THEOLOGY AT 
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA 

By the 

Rev. Charles Francis Aiken, S.T.L. 

Of the Archdiocese of Boston 



BOSTON 

MARLIER AND COMPANY, Limited 
1900 



HU 



ms i 



